


Heart of Lightning

by TheatricalAssassin



Series: Born of the Cosmos [1]
Category: Max Steel (TV 2013)
Genre: Alternate Origin Story, Autistic Max McGrath, Autistic Steel, Energy Syphoning, Fix-It, High School, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Multi, Origin Story, Secret Identity, Secret Organizations, Secrets, Superheroes, Telepathic Link, Villain origins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-12-19
Packaged: 2018-10-30 15:33:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10879743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheatricalAssassin/pseuds/TheatricalAssassin
Summary: 16 year old Max McGrath has been all over, constantly moving and never staying for too long. His mother was always cagey about why they never stayed in one place, finally after moving to Copper Canyon he can just make some friends and get through high school. At least thatwasthe plan.Everything changed when a chance encounter with someone thought long lost, and new adventures came to be.





	1. The Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fix-it, all my other Max Steel fics are not to be considered "connected" to this one unless they're in the same grouping. 
> 
> Basically? I'm going to be looking at canon and setting it on fire. I'm going to try to make it better, at the very least I'm going to do what _should_ have been done but wasn't for whatever reason (like the Blackstar Council plot). It'll probably be very easy to see some of my salt about this series.
> 
> I also just want to try to make some of the characters feel a little more real. So I want to spend more time on character development than maybe like, following the storyline/timeline that the show did.

It has been fifteen hours. Fifteen hours of nothing but driving through the desert. Max’s phone battery had long since died, leaving him with nothing. The radio stations had the choice of gospel, 80’s rock, and Top 100. None of which sounded really good to him right now. He’ll take that ear piercing screams of his old friends trying to make trap over the static filled radio. He wasn’t really sure where they were at the moment, other than the desert. When he’d fallen asleep they in the desert and when he’d woken up, they were still in the god-forsaken desert. He was beginning to think there was no escape from this brown hellscape. For a moment he thought about his snow board, looks like that'll have to go into storage, there's no way that he'll be able to use that in this state. 

"How much longer?" Max asked breaking the silence "It's like we've been driving in place." 

"Well that's driving through Nevada for you dear." his mother laughed "If it makes you feel better we are almost there." 

"Awesome, can't wait" He said dryly trying to nestle back down to go to sleep "Wake me when we get there." 

"Will do." She said smiling 

The one thing that Max did find comforting, was sleeping in a moving vehicle. There was just something about a car in motion that he found relaxing, it didn't have to be going particularly fast, it just had to be going. If anything he'd slept most of the trip. If anything one should never underestimate his ability to take a nap wherever he wants to. He didn't dream, not this time, he didn't mind. The last few dreams had left him with a hollow feeling, friends that he'd left behind because they're moving yet again. Every time they went to move it was the same thing "We can still be friends right? You got my Facebook?" and he'd say yes, but that would be the last time they ever spoke. Right now, Max would take no dreams over dreaming of friends he'd lost to their numerous moves. 

Sleeping in a car wasn’t particularly restful, not unless you had some high speed set up where you get to have a real bed. You sleep but you don’t really _ sleep _ . If you’re lucky you wake up with the same level of energy you had when you went to sleep, what was more likely to happen was that you woke up more tired than you already were. This time when Max awoke he didn’t see more orange land going past the horizon, he saw a city. If anything, this meant that they were there. They pulled into some apartment and his mother turned around to give him a tap. 

“We’re here!” Her chipper voice trying desperately to hide the wear of the long drive “Ready to come in?”

“Yep, lemme just, get out.” 

Clamoring out of the car Max stretched. The heat hit him like a truck, it wasn’t thick and soupy like the summers in Georgia. The air wasn’t oppressive like an Arkansas afternoon before a storm. It was just heat, existing within the air giving him a small shock going from the air conditioned car to what felt like a million degrees. His mother locked the car and they moved to the building. Max wasn’t ready to call it home yet, he’s moved too much to really get attached to one place at any given time. He hoped that this time maybe just maybe he could finish out an entire school year, a foolish hope but a hope none the less. Once they were in the building Max silently praised whoever invented air conditioning as the cool air blasted against his face. His mom lead the way towards the elevator. She walked with purpose, she was excited to have this place, Max could tell with the way she tapped her foot impatiently as they went up. 

“So before we came down I had your Uncle Forge come down and help the movers” She said “I didn’t want to have to come down earlier than I needed he was in the area so that’s less work for us.” 

“Nice, you think he could come by for dinner?” Max asked tiredly 

“I’ll give him a call and see if he’s still in town. No promises though.” His mother smiled giving Max a nudge 

The elevator dinged and his mother strode out of there with purpose. Max noted that, she’d never walked to any new place like this, it made him hope that this time they were staying. He followed her down the hall to the end, and waited for her to fumble through her keys finding the right one. She opened the door all smiles and took her first steps inside. Turning on her heal in a small spin she faces Max arms wide open. 

“Welcome home!” Elation covered her face, she really was happy about this

“It looks great mom!” Max said forcing a small smile “I can’t wait to unpack.”

“I know you’ll like it here,” she said reaching out to pull him into a hug “with school starting back up soon it’ll be a good start for us both.”  

This was something that Max doubted very much. Social skills was not his strong point, never have been. One could drop hints for him and he’d pick it up, dust it off, and hand it back saying “sorry I think you dropped this.” Moving hadn’t helped this fact, but it was a fact of his life. 

School was another thing he wasn’t looking forward to. He was always behind, struggling to catch up with his peers who’d been in attendance since the start of the year, trapped in a vicious cycle that school. Maybe this time he’ll get into at least one cool class, last time he’d managed to get into a nice art class. Got to play around with photoshop and illustrator, he wasn’t  _ good _ but he did enjoy it. The teacher went out of his way to make Max feel like every piece he submitted for review was another step to the goal of becoming a quote unquote “good artist”, there wasn’t many teachers like him and if anything that’s what Max was hoping for in this new school. Teachers who managed to work around the hell system to bring understanding to their courses. 

He was still tired from the drive but he wanted to actually to get some of his stuff out of the boxes. Uncle Forge might have helped the movers get the stuff in the apartment but he did leave all the work of putting things away for them, not that he’s complaining, Max wasn’t exactly excited about the idea of someone going through his things and putting them literally anywhere. He went and found a box cutter and started to tear open the boxes. The first couple were just clothes, unfortunately none would be viable as outfits here. They were all winter clothes. He pushed the box out into the hall and started on the next one. He found a bunch of his books that his mother gave him over the years. Most of them scifi, but he had a fair amount of fantasy in the mix. He picked up on and felt the smooth worn cover, he could see the colors of his highlighters on the edges of the pages where he’d run off the book while annotating. Ready Player One, he couldn’t count how many times he’d read this. The feel of the book starting to bring him at ease, something familiar, something that was  _ his _ in his hands. The last of the moving anxiety starting to leave him as everything felt just a little more real now. 

He set the book on the floor next to it’s box and pulled out the rest of his collection. Upon taking the last one out he realized that his bookends weren't in this box, he was going to have to look for them. Unfortunately for him, he also didn’t label what was in his boxes so they could be in literally any of them. Groaning he cursed past him, as if grumbling about the lack of foresight that he had would fix the fact that he has misplaced his bookends. 

After digging around for what felt like an eternity he found them. He looked around for where he was going to put his books, no shelves at the moment. Knowing his mother she was going to spend her first free day assembling all of them. And he was going to help, because that’s how it always goes. He didn’t mind, it did mean that he’d get his shelves without having to ask her to help him put them together.

He spent the rest of the day putting things away, or shoving the box away until he had the energy to deal with it. After a while he just laid down on his bed trying to get just enough energy to lay out some clothes for school tomorrow. Muffled through the wall he heard his mother yell something, it had that Tone to it. He checked his phone, 7:30pm, he couldn’t remember if they had a show coming on or what.

“Be there in a moment!” He yelled back 

He stood up. Suddenly his body went cold and his vision black, his knees buckled and his breath caught in his chest. He doesn’t remember falling, but he was on the floor. He heard his mom’s footsteps rapidly approaching. Shakily he sat back up to look at her. 

“Sorry” he said his voice barely a whisper “I was real lightheaded for a moment” 

“It’s a good thing I was home.” Worry altered her voice, it was normally warm and inviting, not this. 

Just as she finished her sentence she plunged the needle into his thigh. He felt her hand brush through his hair. It didn’t take long, but he slowly got feeling back. The dizziness went away and soon enough he felt better again. 

“I was just laying out your meds when I heard you fall, good thing I kept the emergency pen close by” She said expression softening. She brushed her hand through his hair again, watching closely. 

“I guess I forgot to take it on the drive here.” Max said 

“Max,” She said her tone heavy “You have to remember to do this. I might not always be around to make sure that you have. What if you collapsed and there wasn’t anyone around to help?”

‘ _ Then I would be fine. _ ’ Max thought to himself. He didn’t know how to bring it up but, he didn’t want to take these injections anymore. He didn’t even know what they  _ did _ for him. His mother never tells him, and if she does say something it’s “for you health” or “the doctor says it’s helping” but he doesn’t feel like it is. If something’s up he feels like it’s the opposite of help. He didn’t forget to take it on the drive here, he just didn’t, just to see what would happen. 

“Sorry mom, I’ll try to remember” is what he actually said. 

Without another word she stood up, and walked out of the room. With that event over with Max felt like the progress he’d made was just set back. What he needed was more time to get used to not having whatever that is. More time away from her. He’s gonna have to find a new excuse to be out of the house. Time to find some kind of elective to throw his time into. 

Standing up he followed her out. Before he’d gone to unpack his things it looked like she was trying to unpack the kitchen. There was cookware and dishes everywhere, at this point it was less kitchen and more pots and pans. He looked around for a clear space and didn’t find any. Just as he was going to ask his mother a question he saw that she was on the phone, leaning against the counter staring hard at her laptop. Why she didn’t just order through the website was beyond him, but moms are moms and they do what they want regardless of how much easier it would be to do it some other way. He went and laid down on the couch while she ordered. He closed his eyes for a moment, just long enough to get comfortable, when his mother shook him awake. 

“Hey sweetie,” she said gently nudging him “You want me to just save you some food and you go to bed?”

Max realized that he’d fallen asleep. Gravity seemed intent on keeping him on the couch but after a valiant effort, he managed to sit up to look at his mother. 

“Yea...” exhaustion seeping through his voice, what little energy he had before vanished into thin air “Yea I think I’ll go to bed.”

She gave a small nod and helped Max up to his feet. One foot in front of the other. A familiar fight, but not one that he wanted to have the first day in his new home. Had he had the energy he would have been angry at himself for allowing himself to fall, for giving his mother the opportunity to back him into a corner. Right now though he just wanted to go to bed, to sink into the mattress and sink into a dreamless sleep. His bed softer than the back seat of the car, he welcomed it greatly. He didn’t bother to change into his pajamas, sleep was ever calling and welcoming. Moments later, he drifted off to sleep. 


	2. Come Together Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dawn of a new adventure! A new day at a new school means the start of great things. Probably, maybe, depends really.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kind words it really does help me stay motivated to write more when I hear back from readers.

A harsh alarm disguised as gentle beeping roused Max from his sleep. Aside from a little soreness on his thigh, he felt better this morning. He stood up with a stretch and checked the time on his phone. 6:30, he’ll have  _ plenty _ of time to get for school. Thankfully he did manage to lay out some clean clothes so he wouldn’t have to hunt for some. Shedding his old clothes he slipped on the grey t-shirt and blue jeans, and knowing how schools are he would need to dig out a hoodie. After some searching he found a somewhat decent blue zip up, he’s had it for so long he doesn’t even remember when he got it. 

Once he was all dressed and ready he went out into the hallway, stopping just out of sight of anyone in the kitchen. Max stood for a moment, listening. His mother wasn’t the quietest when she got ready for the morning and he could almost always find her if she was awake. He slowed his breathing hoping it would help him not spotted, and slowly moved towards the kitchen. Rounding the corner, he saw nothing. The apartment was still and silent. Relaxing a bit Max strode in to find breakfast and just as she promised, she saved him food from last night. He took it out and as he went to put it into the microwave he noticed a note on it. 

_ Be sure to take your medicine Max, don’t want a repeat of last night - Love Mom _

On the counter was one of Max’s daily injections, it didn’t have  _ nearly _ the dosage that the one she used last night did but it still had the same effect. All he knew is that it sapped his energy, like suddenly the mitochondria machine was sabotaged. 

‘Sure,’ he thought ‘I’ll just keep taking this despite not knowing what it’s for. I’ll get right on that Mom’

He tossed his food in the microwave and picked up the needle. He wasn’t sure what to do with it. His last plan was just to let Mom think that through him “forgetting” to take it she’d realize he wouldn’t need it. Clearly that didn’t work. He still wasn’t about to take it but he needed her to think that he did. He looked over at the sink, an idea forming in his head. He aimed the business end of the needle at the drain and pressed down on the injector. With it now empty, there’s nothing for him to say that he  _ didn’t _ take it. He felt proud of himself for this idea, and searched around for the trash can that his mother always wanted him to dispose needles in. He wasn’t about to toss it anywhere because that’d get him yelled at, and there was no possible way that she didn’t already set up the sharps can. One by one he started to open the cabinets near the floor, surely one of them had to have the bright orange container. After opening all of them he realized that it wasn’t in it’s usual spot, and that he didn’t have enough time to eat breakfast  _ and _ hunt for the sharps bin. 

‘At least this’ll help sell that I’m actually doing it’ he thought while he pulled out his phone. 

**Max:** Hey mom, where’d you put the sharps bin? It wasn’t under the sink like last time.   
**Mom:** oh I thought I put it there, this move has us both forgetful lmao :P   
**Mom:** Look in my room. It might have gotten put in there.    
**Max:** ok thanks

Putting the needle down he made his way to his mother’s room. Unsurprisingly it was still full of boxes, but thankfully she’d already taken out most of the stuff. Unpacking always took her longer, Max didn’t have much that needed to be put up and anything that needed to be put in storage was already done before they moved somewhere. It thankfully didn’t take long for him to spot the neon orange container and he grabbed it and took it into the kitchen. Haphazardly tossing it under the sink and throwing the “used” needle in it before grabbing his food out of the microwave. 

He checked the time before digging in, he still had time to spare. He’d gotten up early, had to, this was new territory. He had no map, it ran out hundreds of miles ago. He was going to have to depend heavily on his phone’s navigation to get him to school on time. At least the food from the italian place down the street was okay, it was probably better last night but as good as it is right now he couldn’t really complain. Maybe he should ask to eat here again some other time that way he could actually appreciate it rather than scarfing it down the way he was. 

Max glanced over to the stove top clock one more time, he had five minutes to get out the door. Considering that to be five minutes too much he threw the fork in the sink and put the remainder of his food in the fridge. He looked around for his backpack, it should have been on the couch. If it wasn’t in the living room, then it should be in his bedroom. He rushed back to his room, upon opening the door and seeing the horror that was a half-unpacked room he realized that he was not going to find it in time. He was going to have to take a chance and hope that there wouldn’t be any intense note taking. For once he prayed that there was some weird School Tradition that allowed him some leeway on not bringing his supplies. 

Accepting his fate Max took off back to the front door, hurriedly putting on his sneakers before stumbling out the door. He was about halfway down the hallway when he realized that he neither locked the door nor grabbed his bike which  _ was _ in the living room. With a quick half turn he zipped back to the apartment and grabbed his keys and headphones and wheeled his bike out the door. Locking the door he started down the hall to the elevator. 

Max impatiently tapped his foot while he waited for the elevator to come. He took his phone out of his pocket he input the school’s address and put in his headphones. A ride to school in mostly silence would not be ideal he figures, even if the navigation will be talking to him it’ll still mostly be the sound of everything else. He’d rather hear something else. Pulling up Spotify he scrolled through his playlists and tapped on his running playlist. He allowed the beat to seep into his bones. The bass just offbeat with his heart but just as strong. Unconsciously he bobbed his head and tapped his foot to the rhythm. 

The doors opened and he walked out the building. Once outside he mounted the bike and pedaled in the direction his phone told him. The feminine robotic voice quieting his music to tell him when to make a turn or to keep forward. Pedaling to the beat he managed to acquire some speed, he scanned the road carefully trying to keep aware of all the traffic. The navigation app told him to take a left and as he approached his turn he saw the school. Vering off he rode into the campus grounds, jumping the curb before slowing to a stop. 

Despite forgetting to set aside his backpack, Max could feel that today good things was going to happen. He could tell that he had way more spoons than he had the previous day, biking here didn’t even take up a lot of energy like he thought it might. He turned off the navigation and his music and shoved his headphones in his pocket on the inside of his hoodie as he walked into the building. A familiar sense of anxiety welled up inside of him. This was all new territory, his old routine didn’t matter anymore. 

He swallowed hard ‘ _ it’s just like last time _ ’ he thought to himself ‘ _ and the time before that _ ’ he tried to replace the feeling with determination, ‘ _ this is nothing new, this is a routine in of itself. _ ’ 

Thankfully the office was right there at the front of the building, he pushed open the door and walked over to the secretary working the front desk. 

“Excuse me,” He said tapping the desk slightly “I’m a new student, who do I need to talk to to get my schedule?” 

“What’s your name?” She asked meeting his eyes

“uh, Max McGrath” He looked down at her keyboard instead 

“Alright give me just a moment.” She began typing into the computer, Max thought that with the way she was typing she was drafting his class schedule by hand. A moment later a printer kicked up and she reached around to grab the sheet of paper it spat out. Turning back to him she handed Max the paper “You’ll need to go to your right to get your student ID.”

“Thank you.” He said quietly taking the paper

The classes he was taking here didn’t seem to different from the ones he was taking at his last school. With a few exceptions of course. His last school had a Radio Broadcasting program, this one either didn’t or the class was totally full, either way he wouldn’t be on the radio again for a long time. He’d miss it but at least there was hope for some of the classes he was going to take for the remainder of this year. There was the usual core classes - English, Algebra, American History, and Physics - the same ones he was taking at his last school, and the electives which some were different. He had Creative Writing, Gym, and thankfully, Homeroom. 

He’d gotten there before first bell so if it didn’t take four million years to make his ID, he should be on time to English. He followed the path through the office that the secretary told him to until he found someone who looked like they knew what was going on. 

“Hey I’m new, the lady up front told me I needed to come this way to get my student ID?” He waved back towards the front hoping that they’d be able to help him get to class on time. 

“Oh yea I can get you squared away son, follow me.” 

With the older man leading Max farther and farther back into the office he felt like he was going into a boring version of Narnia, where instead of a forest and a kingdom full of magic you just found more teachers pretending that they aren’t frazzled and overworked. Through some twists and turns and pathways Max wasn’t sure how it was physically possible to  _ have _ this many ways to be in such a small amount of space they finally came to, another fucking office. This one had a blue sheet taped to the wall with a digital camera set up in front of it.

“Take a seat and we’ll get you fixed up.” He said walking behind the desk, Max obeyed, “What’s your name son?”

“Max McGrath” 

The man nodded and with a wiggle of his mouse and a flurry of keys he to had done something in the computer that got Max just that much closer to getting to class and out of this non-euclidean nightmare of a office. Max watched him fiddle with the camera for a bit before turning to him. 

“Please look directly into the camera” Again, Max obeyed “Smile!” 

The shutter clicked and the flash burned his eyes but at least it meant that was one thing done. A machine grumbled and groaned before making a horrid mechanical scream, a noise that made Max’s very being shudder in pain and pray for the sweet release of death. After an eternity passed it stopped and the administrator handed Max his new ID card. 

“Here you go son, for future reference if you are to lose this and need a replacement. It’ll run you five dollars, but this one is free don’t worry.” 

Max mumbled out a thanks taking the card and shuffling out of the room. He walked down the razor straight yet winding path trying to find his way back to the hallway so that he could start the journey to his classroom. He’d walk and walk and walk but was starting to lose hope that he’d ever make it out of the office hell. Was this how schools got new administrators? They’re simply the lost souls who couldn’t escape the clutches of the office and were doomed to serve it for the rest of their days? 

Finally, he stumbled back to the front desk. He gave the secretary a wave before going out into the hallway. From Experience, Max knew that trying to just walking out into the hall wouldn’t work. That would only cause problems. He watched as students walked about waiting for an opportunity to leave and not accidentally smack one in the face with the door. Once there was a space he left pushing the door open hurriedly, the door was lighter than he thought it would be and it swung out from his hand. A grunt and a loud thunk just over the noise of the hallway came from his right. Stepping out of the way of the door he looked to see what it was. A student just a head taller than him and maybe twice as beefy was glaring at him with a slight red line on his face. 

“Who do you think you are?” He growled

“uh... sorry I didn’t see you there” Max apologized 

“I don’t recognize you, so you better watch yourself.” He stepped closer to Max easily dwarfing him “I’ll let you off with a warning  _ this time _ .” 

He stomped away shoulder checking Max to the side, followed by three other students who snickered as they passed. Max sighed, thankful that he didn’t get into a fight on the first day. He didn’t want to have that conversation with his mother. Just as he looked at his schedule he felt someone tap on his shoulder. 

“Ran into Butch I see.” Max turned around to see a blond girl about his height. She held her books to her side while she shook her head disapprovingly. “This your first day?” 

“Yea,” Max said holding his schedule a little closer “Do you know what his deal was anyway?”

“Who knows,” she shrugged “typical bully stuff? Could just be an asshole.” 

“True.” Max looked back at the paper “Hey do you know where room 205 is? That’s my first class.”

“Oh sure!” She motioned for Max to follow “I’m Sydney, what’s your name?”

“Max.” 

“Alrighty Max, I hope you like it here at Copper Canyon. When did you get here?”

“Last night actually, we haven’t even unpacked everything.” Max said trying to keep pace with her

“Well that explains why you don’t have a backpack.” She said eying him. 

Max laughed nervously and kept following her. The hallway was much less confusing than the office. While there was a fair amount of students in it, it was pretty clear where they were going. It had a pretty sensible design. Either the classrooms were on the left side of the building or the right side, if it wasn’t either of those it was probably on the upstairs following those same rules. Max silently praised the Gods of Architecture for this. Sydney took a sharp left and Max almost missed it, she glanced over her shoulder to see if Max was still there. Just as quickly she turned back to face where she was going and walked up the stairs. Max dutifully followed behind her as she climbed the stairs. About halfway down the hall she stopped before a closed door. 

“Here we are, Room 205.” She turned back to Max “Hey what lunch period do you have?”

Max blinked for a moment, then looked at his schedule. So this was the type of school that had multiple lunch periods, that makes sense, it is a big school. 

“Uh... I have C Lunch.” He said after a moment

“Oh sweet that’s when Kirby and I have lunch, you wanna sit with us?” 

“Oh! Sure, yea, that’d be nice.” Max was taken aback by the question. He wasn’t used to people immediately coming at him with things like that, maybe she was just taking pity on him because of the whole Butch Incident. Wouldn’t be the first time. 

“Nice, I’ll see you then. I gotta get to class.” She gave a small wave as she walked back towards the staircase. 

First bell rang, and the teacher wasn’t there. Students were all gathered around the door but there was no one there. Most were talking amongst themselves, some were making jokes at their teacher’s lateness. They all waited a bit longer and Max was starting to get impatient. He tried to look behind him to see if there was anyone coming, nothing. Trying to look past the crowd of students before him didn’t help either, he couldn’t see anything. He didn’t want to be out here and get in trouble with some other teacher because the teacher was late. 

“Sorry, sorry, sorry!” A small voice rang out amongst the voices “I got held up in traffic but I’m here now let’s go.” 

Their teacher slowly wiggled her way through the group. When she finally broke through to the door to unlock it Max saw that she was somewhat tall and had an athletic build. While it didn’t  _ look _ like she had defined muscles he knew that if she really was athletic, she’d have the power or speed to back it up. He’d seen his mother sparr with Uncle Forge enough to know that looks are deceiving. While Uncle Forge was much bigger than his mother she was  _ much _ faster and hit just about as hard. Albeit in specific places as some blows he’d just shrug off like they were nothing. Max wondered if this teacher could break up a fight, he wondered if she was the one who broke up fights between two girls. His other schools when girls fought the men just stood around not really sure what to do, sometimes they looked afraid. 

The door clicked and she swung it open. The group quickly bottlenecked themselves trying to get inside. Max being one of the closest to the door was able to get inside fairly quickly. He knew that most of the seats were probably taken already and chose to instead stand by the teacher’s podium at the far side of the board. He watched everyone shuffle in and take their seats. Soon enough all thirty of them were sitting in their spots. He looked over at the teacher who was searching through a bag for something, and stood there feeling watched as he waited for the teacher acknowledge his presence. She finally found what she was looking for and looked up to the front of the classroom, and eventually found him. 

“Oh! You must be Max, our new student!” She said a little surprised, Max prayed that she wouldn’t make him introduce himself with some fact about himself. “You stay right there for a moment.” Dear god no “Alright class!” Please don't “How about a vote. We will have Easy Friday but Double Hard Monday, or we’ll have class like normal.” What.

The class  _ erupted _ into noise. Most of the class seemed to be  _ clamoring _ for Easy Friday, with a handful of students wanting to do a normal day. Max was confused at the idea, this one was new to him, but it did make some sense. Trade up Friday’s work for a Free Day but make it all up on Monday. 

“Sounds like Free Day Friday to me, now remember this means that we’ll have to work twice as hard on Monday. If you like you can work on your essays today but I will be expecting twice the amount of work done by Tuesday to make up for it.” She then turned to Max. “Is there anything I need to know that might not have been on your transcript?” She asked

“What do you mean?” Max asked quizzically 

“Well I know some families don’t have the means to get various learning disorders or things like Autism so I’ve taken to trying to help where I can when I’m allowed.” She explained

“Oh, uh, I am autistic.” Max said “I uh, tend to have issues with some noises.”

“Too loud?” She interrupted

“Too staticy” Max corrected, and when she looked at him confused he explained. “For some reason some noises just don’t process. Like I hear them ok the volume is fine but the understanding what they said, it’s like trying to watch TV in a storm or listen to the radio when the station is just one click off the actual radio number. That’s the best way I can describe it.” 

She nodded understanding “So, I tend to give everyone printouts of what  _ I _ would take as notes if I were a student in this class. They follow any powerpoint that I’ll show or anything I talk about, will that be okay?”

“Yea, that’d be amazing actually.” Max was astonished at the lengths this woman went to to make sure that everyone would have the same access to the material. “Uh. If you can subtitles on any like, video would be cool to. Makes it much easier for me to understand.”

“I can do that.” She said before turning to scan the room “You can sit there, next to Benji.” 

The seat she pointed to had him at the front of the row, which he didn’t mind. Anything to let him see the board easier. Benji perked up when he heard his name, he had been sleeping until a moment ago. When Max came to sit down in his newly assigned seat he eyed him curiously before going back to sleep. Not a social type it seemed, or he was just too tired for this. Max honestly didn’t blame him, he was glad that no one was paying attention to him for a second. He didn’t want to deal with people asking him a million questions about where he was from and why they moved here, what other classes he had or some other nonsense that they didn’t actually care about. He knew what they were doing when they did that. They were sizing him up to figure out if he was “one of them” and given his experiences at other schools, he seriously doubted that he was one of anyone. He especially didn’t want anyone who overheard his conversation with the teacher, the last thing he needed was pity friends who wanted to befriend him so they could tout him about like the Brave Allistics they were for having the Courage to befriend an autistic. 

Having nothing to work with, Max had to figure out how he was going to pass the time. He could ask to go to the library and get a book, but given how he doesn’t have a backpack today he decided against it. He doesn’t even know if his locker works properly, best to wait till tomorrow. He could get up and go ask the teacher what the work was that they were supposed to be doing today. If anything he  _ should _ ask to go to the library to work on that, this’ll be his only chance to catch up. Leeway or not he won’t get something like this ever again. 

He got up and ventured over to the teacher’s desk and stood there trying to remember her name. He looked down to see if there was anything identifying that could save him in this moment. Thankfully, she had a nameplate on her desk. 

“Mrs Frankie? What was the essay you guys were working on?” He asked shyly

“Oh, well since we’re so close to being finished you can choose skip this one. If you like I can assign you an in-class essay that’ll count for the work that you’re supposed to do on Monday.”

“Oh okay... can I borrow a piece of paper and a pencil?” He stared at her desk rather than looking at her. 

“I’ll let you slide on that this time Max, but remember to bring your supplies, you’ll be expected to next week.” She dug out some paper and a pen then handed to Max 

“Yes Mrs Frankie.” He said taking it “What’s the subject?”

“I want you to write an argumentative essay on why your favorite genre of music is the best.” 

With a curt nod Max headed back to his desk. With only one sheet of paper he had to make his words count, or he could go back and ask for more, he never had to legitimately argue what genre was the best. He just thought that every kind of music had its merits, even if he didn’t like it, the fact that someone out there was enjoying it meant that in of itself it was a good genre. What he was struggling with was what made a genre “the best” but then again, that was the point of this assignment wasn’t it? To take a subjective thing on a subjective medium, in this case his opinion on music, and put in a way that would convince the teacher that his opinion was the best. Or at least well worded and easily understood. 

He thought about the music genre he listened to the most, and decided on Electronica and the various sub-genres that it could have. First he had to define it, he wasn’t sure if Mrs Frankie even knew what was in abstract or just as a thing. Not knowing her taste in music he knew that the audience would definitely be someone who is new to the scene. He quickly filled the page talking about various types of of Electronica and explained how usually that term in of itself would have many people confused but once you get into specific sub-genres more people would recognize them and understand. He talked about the variance on the music and how diverse it is within itself, he talked about how you could feel the beat in your very bones and each genre gave off a different feeling with their style. For example Synthwave felt the way that driving on a highway in the dark of night does, while Big Room House made one feel like they were in a large room full of people, or Melbourne Bounce that made you want to jump all over the place. In no time he’d filled both sides of the page and just as he was about to get up and hand it over to her the bell rang. He didn’t realize that he’d taken so long to write the essay, time really flies when you’re writing about music. He gave Mrs Frankie his essay and waved her goodbye, going on to find his next class. 

The next two classes about how he expected. It looked like Mrs Frankie and Mr Wallace was the exception to the rule, the two (2) teachers who went out of her way to accommodate students. His others seemed content with doing the bare minimum asked of them. Mr Wallace also did Easy Friday/Double Hard Monday (but not today, they did not win that battle), and fairly skilled in his status of a teacher, he generally tried to actually make the students  _ understand _ the material which these days was a rarity. So Mr Wallace (his algebra teacher) and Mrs Frankie (his english teacher) were the only two that were trustworthy. 

When C Lunch finally hit he couldn’t be more ready. Max was starving and was prepared for any of the low quality garbage that they’d be slinging at his tray today. Though he did pray that it was good food, sometimes the schools in the cities like this had food that was actually semi-edible, it was almost on the same level as McDonalds in terms of health and nutrition. He fell in line quickly once he realized which one was for food. He couldn’t see the menu from here but right now it didn’t really matter, he was about to dive head first into a trash can if it meant that he got to eat. 

“Yo Max!” He heard a feminine voice call from behind him, turning around he realized that this was Sydney and behind her someone trailed behind. Apparently also struggling to keep up with her. He waved to show that he acknowledged them, she took this as a sign to come to him. “Glad we found you, I wanted you to meet my friend Kirby.”

“Sup my dude.” Kirby said, appearing to be very very tired. “Syd told me about your run in with Butch.” 

“Yea I smacked him in the face with a door, I guess he expects everyone to know his exact position at any given point in time.”

Kirby snorted and slung his arm around Max’s shoulders “I like you, you’re funny.” When Max took a step forward in line Kirby followed suit, he pulled something out of his pocket. Max realized that this was Kirby’s phone. “You got a discord? I could invite you to the group chat.” 

“Yea lemme see what my name is set as right now.” Max pulled his phone out and opened Discord. “My name is Robot Apologist#2013” 

Kirby typed in the name on his phone and after a bit of finagling he managed to find Max, a moment later Max got an alert saying that he had a new request. 

“Star Star Star Andromeda?” Max said confused

“That’s my username.” Kirby said pointing at the request

“I figured but, what does that even  _ mean _ .”

“It’s his favorite sci-fi series; Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate, and Andromeda” Sydney clarified. 

“Oh that makes sense.” Max said 

He accepted the invite and then Kirby sent another, this time for the group chat. There was no chat history so he assumed that this one was made literally just now. They put away their phones and made their way through the line. They chatted idly as the line moved at a snail’s pace. About half way through he got a chill that shook through his whole body. No, not a chill, a chill felt differently, this was more, this was more of a  _ zap _ but not painful. He felt his heart race and his hands shake. He looked at Sydney and Kirby, their expressions turning worrisome. He tried to tell them that he needed to leave but the words wouldn’t come, no matter what he did he couldn’t get himself to put a concept into words. 

Seeing no other alternative, he ran. He tore off out of the cafeteria, as fast as his legs could carry him. He ran and he ran, his heart beating like a drum. It hurt. It felt like it was going to beat itself out of his chest. He skidded to a halt at the intersection of the cafeteria hallway and the regular one. The shaking visibly worse, he was practically vibrating. He took off towards the office, towards the exit. He had to leave, he had to go, everything in him told him to get out of there. 

So focused on the front door, Max didn’t even see Butch and his gang. In his haste Max body checked Butch, sending him reeling, and Max barely noticed that he’d hit anyone. He landed into the door with a deep thud throwing it open with most of his force and raced outside. He ran away, he didn’t know where he was going, he just needed Not Here. He ran faster, and faster, he was running so fast that the world blurred into a stream of colors. He turned down an alleyway and when the world was quiet for a moment he tried to catch his breath. Kneeling down breathing hard he noticed his hand. He went stiff, everything went cold, he couldn’t breathe, his heart pounded in his ears. 

His hand was blue, it was glowing blue. 

And it hurt. 

It wasn’t just his hand, it was his everything. He wanted to scream out for help but he couldn’t. Fear caught his scream in his throat, he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know what to do. He stared wide-eyed at his hand like a deer in the headlights. 

He heard a noise, but he couldn’t react. He heard a voice, but couldn’t respond. The world froze, and then everything went white. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was some Jokes and stuff in this because I cannot stay serious for a god damned second. 
> 
> But yea some of the school experiance was kind of personal. You might be able to tell what what (like the Radio Class, I did really get to go to a school that had Radio Broadcasting as a elective and it was super fun.) but I figured that since I've probably moved as much as Max and Molly have I might as well use that experiance for some of Max's day. 
> 
> Mrs Frankie is the Ideal Teacher, the teacher that Young Autistic, Dyscalculic, and just overall Mess me needed during my school years. Mr Wallace was one I actually had, but probably not by that name, he was cool and actually did Free Day Friday for Double Hard Monday, we'd manage to get that one sometimes. It was cool I liked him. 
> 
> I've also forgotten my keys before when leaving the house for school, unfortunately I've rarely remembered and once I actually had to break into my own house to unlock the door.


	3. Come Together Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reactivation often comes at a cost, but surrounded, outnumbered, and outgunned Axsteel has little choice but to chase after the one thing that has brought him back to the land of the living.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel really :/ about this chapter, mostly because it was new territory pushing out of my Writing Comfort Zone. I hope that it comes over well.
> 
> I was also besieged by Depression and general moving nonsense since I just moved from Florida to Arkansas, so I'm not sure about the quality of this chapter. Hopefully I can get back to my usual stuff soon.
> 
> Also during July I'll be doing Camp Nano, so updates will be even slower during then because of it. The same will apply during November when I do Nanowrimo.

Initializing...

Detecting Tachyon Unlimited Radiant Bio-Optimized Energy approximately eleven miles away.

Something was happening. Axsteel knew it, Something was Up. He was aware, but he couldn’t see anything. He heard footsteps, the heavy click of metal on metal. Shortly after it he heard a pair of footsteps, this time significantly lighter than the ones that preceded them. As they approached the surface his stasis pod was on shifted slightly.

“Why don’t we keep this one locked up?” A muffled voice asked

“Oh this one?” The pod shook again with a little more force this time, the speaker must have put their hand down onto it. “It hasn’t worked for years. Probably never will.”

“Huh” The other voice sounded unsure “And the commander is okay with this?”

“If I remember correctly he’s the one who put in the order for it to be here.”

The other voice made a noise Axsteel couldn’t quite understand, and for a moment he was relieved. He wasn’t sure how long they were going to stand there. When the hall fell silent again he started to count the moments between patrols. The hall was silent, save for the distant echo of footsteps. Where they leaving or arriving? He waited longer. The footsteps faded away, but on the other side they started up again. His count started, this was a new patrol and it was unlikely for them to stop to gawk at him. The seconds ticked away, each step growing louder and louder then softer and softer. When he finally couldn’t hear anything more he stopped. He had a window of five minutes between the time it takes a patrol to reach the end of the hallway.

Reactivation hit full force, he was online and ready to go. Ready to Ultralink with the power source that had tripped his sensors. The stasis pod broke apart and dematerialized, the second he could see the blindingly white hallway he made a break for it. Within seconds a loud alarm screamed through his audials. Soldiers ran down both sides of the hallway. Orders and bullets flew at equal speeds. Axsteel flew erratically, dodging and weaving through the mess of light. Lasers, he realizes they’re shooting at him. A vent on the ceiling! Freedom! Avoiding this was worth the energy that would be expect shooting it off it’s hinges, and with a well placed blast of TURBO Energy the cover fell right off. He wasted no time flying into it, barely avoiding the soldiers shots as he went.

Once in the ventilation shaft he saw an opportunity to assess the situation. What did he know. He knows that he is being held prisoner, the reason for _that_ he did _not_ know. He knows that somehow he tripped an alarm, possibly a motion sensor. He knows that the commander saw fit to separate him under the impression that he no longer functioned, so following this logic this commander must have been the reason he went into stasis. He seemed to have sustained damage at some point but he couldn't remember from what, he could do a full diagnostic when he's safe.

Zipping down the ventilation he saw the soldiers rushing to and fro trying to figure out where he is, and more importantly, where he’s going. They started blocking off vents that he might use as an exit, Axsteel realized that if he was to escape, he was going to have to go through them. That’s a bridge he’ll have to burn when he gets there. Blazing through he heard someone yell “Commander”, he turned back to find the source of the word.

Peering through the vent cover he saw a stocky man, his uniform was decidedly different from everyone else’s. Holding his helmet in his hands Axsteel got a good look at his face. An angry scowl twisted his expressions as he listened to his underlings.

“How did this happen?!” He yelled at them “Who let it loose?”

“We don’t know yet Commander Ferris!” One snapped to attention “We’re currently closing off all the vents so it can’t escape.”

“I want that Ultralink back in the vault yesterday!” He snapped putting his helmet on. It looked just as battle scarred as the rest of his armor, the white and green becoming a warning sign for him. Capture means death. He can’t wait around anymore.

He flew full speed down the vent shaft till he came to a corridor that didn’t have any soldiers in it yet. Energy is at 88%, the energy source is still eleven miles away, he’s going to have to take this risk to make it out of here. He shot the cover off and tore off outside. He knew he probably set off a proximity alert but at this moment, there wasn’t anything he could do about it. With no host, he had limited options. The corridor led to what appeared to be a hanger, with no roof. There were already soldiers there, they unleashed a volley of lasers leaving him little choice but to try to fly around things they might need or simply be behind cover as often as possible. Shouting was drowned out with the sound of metal falling and and gunfire. He looked back up towards the opening at the top of the hanger. That was freedom, there was no other way out. Not anymore at least.

Fear overtook him froze him in his hiding spot, but the need to survive won out. He flew straight up, he could feel every part of him starting to whine under the stress but it was so close, so close, he was moving as fast as he possibly could yet it felt like the world had slowed to a crawl. He could hear the roar of engines behind him and he pushed himself harder and harder. He couldn’t let them take him again. He passed through the opening and locked onto the signal.

It was moving, fast.

He didn’t have enough energy to fight them, and even if he did he didn’t have the means. He just fled. The signal was coming from somewhere in the city, he could see it from here but it shouldn’t be _too_ hard to find it once he’d gotten inside. The trick will then be getting to safety after he links up with this power source. His systems was telling him that it was a person, an organic being. He hoped that they were going to last long enough for him to get there, just as his power was dwindling down their was rising at an alarming rate. He looked down, there was a highway nearby. He could hitch a ride, and if he did that he just might lose his pursuers.

Plunging into a nose dive he zoomed into the busy highway. The bulky jets _wouldn’t dare_ coming down here. The sound of rushing cars and horns blaring filled the air. He found a perfect vehicle to hide under. He didn’t know how he knew that they wouldn’t stop him here, but he knew that unless they could do it covertly they wouldn’t risk it. He kept pace with the truck and then slide under it and held onto the frame for dear life, he wasn’t about to find out just how durable he was.

He watched his map carefully, he didn’t need to be under this truck any longer than he had to. This gave Axsteel time to think. This was a person he was going to be linking up to, if his readings were correct then their conversation was going to have to be quick, they might not have much time for anything beyond “Do you want to live?”. He wasn’t sure what he could say that wouldn’t alarm them, chances are they were already in a state of panic so getting a coherent answer out of them was going to be difficult.

The truck slowed to a stop and Axsteel looked at his location, he was close enough to the individual without having to hide here any longer. He let go and flew into a side alley. They weren’t far now, they’ve stopped moving and the signal has only gotten stronger. The was the last chance he’d get. Rising above the building he took the shortest route to them. His energy was at 25% now, certain that the ride saved him precious moments. He tried to ride the air currents, hoping that it’d give him an extra boost in speed, anything to make it there in time. Failure didn’t just mean his death, but the death of another. Failure was not an option.

He saw what could only be described as the beginnings of an explosion in slow motion. He saw the individual overflowing with TURBO energy. He saw them in pain. He knew what he had to do. He approached them quickly and not all that quietly. They were looking down at the ground with a pained expression.

“Human! You are going to overload!” He yelled hoping that they’d respond.

Silence, they didn’t move a muscle

“Human!” He tries again “You will die if immediate action is not taken!”

Again, silence.

Axsteel wasn’t about to let this one die because of negligence, he might as well have killed them himself. He made his choice, this human was going to live.

Using the last of his energy, he was able to stop the energy overload in it’s last few steps. It was the first step to Ultralinking, if they’re agreeable then maybe both of them could see tomorrow. There was still a huge surplus of TURBO Energy on the human’s end and he was starting to run too low for comfort. The human looked up seemingly bewildered by the surrounding blue hexagons that surrounded the two, this might be his only chance. Shifting his plating he quickly slammed down onto their chest.

Ultralinking only takes a second. Breaking down his new host’s body and remaking it, better, stronger, and most importantly: inserting the necessary equipment that would save both of their lives. It would allow him to take the surplus energy and the host to live at a healthy level. When he remade the being and released himself to be able to face his new companion.

They stood there, shocked for a moment. They looked at their hands, Axsteel felt his heart race. It felt weird, especially given that he didn’t have a heart. He realizes that it’s not _his_ _heart_ that he’s feeling, it’s his host’s. He also realizes, this is a fear response. His host was just pulled out of a stressful situation and plunged right into another one.

“Human,” he said calmly “I am N’Baro Axsteel X377, I am a bio-parasitic Ultralink Warrior, Omega Class. You were experiencing critical energy overload, it was unlikely that you were to survive without intervention.”

“Can you... can you repeat... all of that.” they said after a long silence

He could feel there was some sort of misunderstanding, and given that this is the first person that he’s met thus far who _hasn’t_ tried to shoot him, it’s probably worth making the effort to explain things.

“Yes, but” He looked around, checking the skies for aircraft “We need to leave. Now.”

“Wait! I’m not going anywhere until you explain,” they grabbed at a portion of the suit that now covered and made up part of their body. “this, thing, that you’ve put on me. I’d like to know why I look like a power ranger.”

“...I don’t know what a Power Ranger is but, I can explain everything. But _not here_.”

If they didn’t move, he was going to have to move them. He didn’t want to so he was going to have to go with the short and sweet version

“Ok the reason why I can’t explain here is because we’re being hunted by someone. I don’t know why, I only just barely lost them. If we stay here we’ll _definitely_ get caught and they’ll do who knows what to you!”

They stared Axsteel down for a moment. Unsure what to say, their pulse had slowed down from what it was but it was still going much too fast.

“What about you?” they asked

“They’ll try to deactivate me and store me away in a vault.”

He could feel the fear grip his, their, very beings. They were beginning to understand the gravity of the situation.

“What should we do?” There was something in their voice, Axsteel could feel it himself, he didn’t know what to say to make them feel better.

<Maybe we should keep quiet about this, I’m not sure how they’ve found me before.>

“Two things. 1) How the fuck, 2) Can you teach me to do that”

Well they were taking this decidedly better

<Uh, it’s like talking but, without actually using your vocal stuff, we’ll work on this later.>

What they needed was something to get them out of the city pronto. They couldn’t stay on foot, with those soldiers all out in force they’d be found out in no time. With how they referred to their armor, Axsteel was certain that they stood out, so that was also a hazard. He remembered that he’s got different modes he can use, he looked back to his host. He was going to have to try to get him to work together on this.

<So I have an idea and I’ll need your help with it>

“Okay, what do I have to do?”

Steel thought very carefully about what he was to say next, if they stood there any longer the greater their chances of getting caught. He couldn’t allow this, he _needed_ to get them both to safety before he could even think about doing any kind of So You’re Ultralinked Now talk.

<Nothing, I can get us out of here but I need your permission to do it>

“What do you mean nothing?” There was fear in their voice, they didn’t like the sound of this, not at all. Axsteel could feel their throat tighten and their heart race.

<For a little bit, I’ll control your body. You’ll still be aware, I’m just going to take us somewhere safe.>

They stood there in silence, Axsteel needed them to be able to say yes or no. He needed to try something else

<What is your name?>

“What?”

<What should I call you?> He repeated

“Max.” He said

<Okay Max,> he said steadily <We’ve been here for way too long. We need to go, I can tell you everything I know but I can’t do it here. It’s not safe and they’re likely already coming down on us.>

Max nodded, good, some progress.

<Are you okay with me doing what I have to to get us to safety?> He nodded again <Okay, you’ll be awake the whole time. You’ll still be able to tell me things, you might have to if you see something I miss.>

Neither of them were okay with this situation, but given no other option, they had to grit their teeth and bear it. He began scanning modes, they needed something now and he was ready to go at any second now that he has the blessing to get them Somewhere That Is Not Here.

“Can I call you Steel” he asked, his voice shaking slightly

Without looking away from his search he thought about it, Steel did have a better ring to it didn’t it?

“Yea, that sounds nice.”

He found a mode that’ll work for what they need at the present moment. He closed out the search and brought it to the forefront of his mind. He wasn’t sure how Max was going to react to this, given how he’s taken everything else he just hoped that it wouldn’t be too bad.

His plating shifted, his frame grew rigid. He slammed into place as everything around him and everything about them changed. Remaking everything to fit another function. Max’s body became more sleek and aerodynamic, he gained four additional limbs he didn’t immediately recognize. Steel could feel his uncertainty, but he could also feel the exhilaration. Everything changing and shifting to meet the proportions that Steel needs, adding the propulsion engine to give them the extra speed boost. It felt like forever, like time slowed down and allowed him to take his time.

It only took a few seconds.

When it was all over he ran a quick check to make sure that everything was actually flight capable and ready. In the background he could feel Max’s thoughts racing, he briefly wondered if this was a sign that Max was letting him in or if he was just overwhelmed. Either way, he shouldn’t push it. His finished his check, green across the board.

Max stiffened, Steel relaxed him, he felt Max’s anxiety spike. Their wings twitched involuntarily, which took Max from anxious to outright terrified. Steel felt the muscles twitch and stopped them before Max even made a noise.

<Don’t be afraid, this is part of my idea.> Steel wasn’t getting much in response from Max beyond unfocused concepts of fear, curiosity, and what he interpreted to be a general survival instinct. <We can fly now, we’re going to fly away from here.>

Fear was _instantly_ overtaken by curiosity, and something else... like apprehension but positive. Steel took this as his permission for take off.

He looked around the alley, he flicked their wings as if he were trying to rid them of some invisible debris stuck to them. He lept into the air. He spread their wings and energy flowed through them and they actually obtained lift. They shot straight into the air at blinding speeds. Once high enough that Steel could see a reasonable amount of the city he flew, away from everything else. Away to safety where he could actually get a handle on everything. But where?

East. East had the mountains. They could hide there in the mountains easily. Steel tore off through the air, feeling it bend to his will. They picked up speed at a blistering pace, the air beating against them until it finally broke and they were out of the city limits under the thunderous roar of a sonic boom.

It was the best feeling in the world, or so Max appeared to think. The feeling of elation bubbled to the surface and he could feel Max’s smile on his face as they flew. He had a feeling that this was going to be his new favorite thing, and Steel would be more than happy to spend his time with Max like that. Given everything.

Under normal circumstances, it might have taken them a few hours to get there. However Steel was pushing them, he needed them both to be somewhere that his captors wouldn’t think to look and this far away from the city only made sense, there was no way that he’d be able to get here on his own. They’d probably be searching the city for a few hours. He relaxed a little bit, they were already almost halfway there, he could afford to loosen up a bit.

Max took a deep breath, and Steel realized just how much that he was holding onto him. He quickly checked Max’s vitals, he didn’t even realize that there could have been an effect on Max the way that he was flying them. The readings showed that given their level of activity everything was at acceptable levels. He made a mental note to try to figure out what Max’s limits are, so that he doesn’t exceed them by accident. He thought about reaching out to Max again, trying to start up a conversation but, he knew what Max wanted to talk about and Steel didn’t want to talk about it until they’ve landed and had a moment to catch their, his, breath.

He scoped out a small clearing and landed near the trees. Despite the sterile white and brilliant blue standing out against the natural colors of the world around them, they should be able to remain hidden here at least for now. This was definitely a temporary situation. He let go of Max, giving him back control of his body. Steel braced himself for yelling.

Birds chirped. The wind rustled through the trees. But there was only silence between them.

He stared at the boy, who remained silent. Steel wasn’t sure what to do. Should he say something? Is something wrong? Did the flight over hurt him and he wasn’t paying attention? Steel moved closer to his covered face, just as he was about to speak Max held his hand up between them.

“I just... I just need a minute.” He said, a tone that Steel wasn’t quite sure how to categorize. It wasn’t distress but it wasn’t okay. “This is just, a lot to take in right now.”

“But I haven’t told you anything yet” Steel stated confused

“Yea but when I woke up today I didn’t think I was going to fly out of the city on my own wings and be theoretically chased by someone who doesn’t like someone else I’ve never met.” The wings on the suit moved as he spoke, expressing his displeasure, confusion, and concern. “This right now it just. A lot.”

Steel wasn’t sure where to start then. He knew only a little more than Max did about their situation, as far as the Steel suit went he would be able to answer questions with ease but on the matters of everything else? They’re just stumbling through the fog.  

“Ok. So. I think you should start from the beginning.” he said finally

“The beginning?” Steel asked

“Yea, right before you came to me, what was happening? Why are people chasing you?” He said sitting down in the grass

“Well, as for the why I don’t actually know.” Steel explained “All I know is that they had me captive, and thought I was dead.”

“So... they want to kill you because they thought you were dead?” Max asked

“I guess?” Steel shrugged

“You said that they wanted to put you in a vault,” he paused thinking a little bit on his statement “That would tell me that they wanted to study you sometime later.”

“What makes you think that?” Steel asked, if Max knew anything he’d be overjoyed to know why they’re doing this

“I dunno, makes sense to me. Why else would you keep around someone or something that isn’t alive anymore?”

Steel had to give it to him, that did make sense. Why waste the resources to keep a entity around and secure if they weren’t going to use it? The thought of that gave him chills, he was very happy that he was out here.

“So, what I do want to know.” Max said pointedly “Is how you found me.”

“I followed your energy signature” Steel said matter-of-factly “It was actually what reactivated me. My systems detected Tachyon Unlimited Radiant Bio-Optimized Energy and reactivated me.”

Max stared at him blankly

“Did you... need any of that repeated?”

“Is the Tachyon whatever the uh, the blue stuff?” he asked

“Yes, that is Tachyon Unlimited Radiant Bio-Optimized Energy. You generate it.”

“So you followed it to me.” He asked

“Yes” There was an uncomfortable silence. Max’s sudden unwillingness to speak concerned Steel, was there someone else they needed to be worried about?

“Do you think that whoever was wanting to catch you, would try to find you the same way?”

“We have to go”

Before Max could get out another word Steel linked up and readied to take off again, they couldn’t stay here. He didn’t take the proper precautions. They were still in danger. Mustering up all the force he could, he launching off the ground, only to be halted and they violently slammed against a tree. Steel realized that Max had grabbed a hold of a branch.

“We can’t go!” He said “They’ll just keep chasing us!”

“And what do you propose?” Steel said indignantly “We don’t know what we’re up against!” As mad as Steel was, he could see that Max had an idea, maybe he should hear him out.

“So you were able to make me, us? Whatever, fly. Would you be able to make us invisible?”

Invisible? That’d be an idea. Yes, they could gather information about whoever is chasing them, and if they were careful they would be able to gain the upper hand.

“Give me a moment, and we’ll have Defense Protocol 5734l7h.”

Just like before he linked up to Max, but instead of creating anything new he dialed it back. By a lot. Max loosened his grip on the branch landing back onto the ground. The wings deconstructed, the aerial stabilizers, all of it came apart. Instead it came to what looked for a moment to be millions of mirrors, millions of cameras, he didn’t just appear invisible. They were. Max looked at his hands and Steel felt his pulse quicken, he was afraid that Max was going to panic. Instead Steel sensed a smile creep onto his face.

“They’ll never see us coming” Max said before bursting into laughter

* * *

 

They’d taken their spot to the edge of the clearing. Neither were really sure if their pursuers had the means to see someone who was invisible, so they decided to minimize risk by laying prone on the grass. Sure enough, Max was right. Someone did track the same signal Steel did and followed to their location. One of the jets that had followed him out from the desert landed in the middle of the clearing. The agents that walked out all had the same gait. Uniform in design they marched out and began to encircle the jet. Max and Steel could almost make out the uniformed armor, Steel decided that they needed to be able to see, and zoomed in on Max’s HUD. He looked closer at the jet to see who else was there. Following the armored soldiers, a man Steel recognized.

“I think we need to get closer” Max whispered “I can’t hear what they’re saying”

<Please don’t speak out loud> there was a quiver of fear in Steel’s voice <They’ll hear us>

“I’m sorry but you didn’t exactly tell me how to do this ok”

Max began to shuffle forward slowly, Steel was just content to stay put in his chest, if anything he was ready to go first sign of danger. He kept low the ground and would occasionally prop himself up to see better. He lowered himself back to the ground and kept scooting along, closer and closer. His heart raced with every inch gained, he had to fight every fiber of his body to not make a sound. As they drew in the voices grew louder, more understandable.

“It hasn’t moved from this area in a few hours.” A younger voice said “I’m not sure why, there’s nothing out here.”

“It could be for any reason Martinez,” Max’s heart skipped a beat, his blood ran cold, Steel felt it. “It could just be trying to put some distance between us and them before it tries anything.”

<Steel...> Max could hardly breathe <That’s my uncle... That’s my uncle Forge>

He wanted to leave, they wanted to leave, if Forge saw them there, if Max lost his cool and said something. They were in trouble. But they were here now, they can’t back out of this one, they have to figure out why they were chasing them

That is until Max stood up.

He broke into a full sprint, knocking over lanky unarmored agent Forge was talking to moments ago. Shouting started but there was nothing they could do. They couldn’t take them all on, there was no winning that fight. Their heart beat like a drum as Max raced out of the enclosure. In their panic, Steel dropped the active camouflage that had kept them invisible to everyone.

Steel could almost hear the Target Locked alerts.

Everything became a blur of light, sound, and pain. Steel couldn’t help but feel it with Max, everything was getting scrambled. They fell to the ground, Steel desperately tried to get his senses together to maybe escape. Max was unresponsive. Steel tried harder, he had to get up, he had to get _up_. He couldn’t let Max be taken by them, he couldn’t do this to him.

Why didn’t he stop him sooner.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're unfamiliar in Animorphs, a series I read when I was a kid, differentiated telepathic speech with <>. So it only makes sense to me to use it for any kind of "thought-speech" kind of thing. I've yet to find a way to mark Comms differently but once I do I'll be doing that. 
> 
> So I've actually not ever had to describe transformation sequences before so that was totally new territory.
> 
> I honestly don't know where this is going anymore someone take the wheel


	4. Come Together Part Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Behind enemy lines the boys are in over their heads, now N-Tek knows what they look like, but what else do they know?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have a new job now. I work in a factory 2nd shift six days a week
> 
> Basically my updates are gonna be EVEN SLOWER because i work 10-12 hours with (mostly) only one day off. I do write a little bit when I come home but real talk I'm so sore and tired I can barely manage 50 words.
> 
> Sorry guys.

When everything Stopped, they were able to breathe again. Max laid on the ground coughing and sputtering, his hands grasping at the air just above his chest. Steel tried very hard to lessen the pain, to make it to where they could feel again and become a person again. After laying on the cold ground for what felt like forever, Max finally sat up. They were in a cell, everything was the same sterile white that Steel woke up in. They weren’t sure what to do from here, they weren’t planning on coming here anytime soon. Steel was about to dismount from Max’s chest before Max put his hand over the Ultralink, gently pressing him into place.

“Not here” he whispered

Max wasn’t quite able to get his message across the link, but Steel was able to get an idea of why he didn’t want him to leave, even if he couldn’t go anywhere. One, he was scared. Honestly a reasonable reaction to the situation, they both were captured and it’s uncertain what will happen to either of them. Two, it probably wasn’t a good idea to show that there was two people to this cell when it looks like it was made for one. At least, this is what Steel assumed given the kind of thoughts that were going through Max’s head, to which he was right Max didn’t want Steel to go for those reasons exactly. Just as they stood up a man from before walked into sight. It was the same one that caused the plan to go all to hell. It was Uncle Forge.

Max stiffened, he knew if he said a word Forge would recognize him, but he couldn't stay quiet. He didn't want to risk angering him by making him think they were refusing to talk to him. The man stared them down, steely eyes trying to pierce their armor.

“So,” he said impatiently “I guess you want to skip the whole bit then.”

Sensing Max's confusion and feeling rather confused himself Steel took it upon himself to answer.

“The... Bit?” Steel asked cautiously

“Usually this is the part where you lot start yelling about The Glory of Makino or some nonsense” He seemed wildly unimpressed “With that out of the way, we can get to the part where I get to go home sooner.”

Max felt something in Forge’s voice when he said that. As far as he knew Forge never was one to actively want to go home when it came to work, then again if this was what he actually did then maybe he was glad for every moment of time off he got.

“So we can either do this the easy way, or the hard way.” The look Forge gave them, Max felt a chill run up his spine “You tell me everything that you know, release your host, and this will be all over quickly” They watched his hand rest on his hip just over his gun “Or we’ll have to get creative.”

The reality of the situation was, there was no answer they could give Forge that wasn’t going to end in whatever "creativity” he had in mind. Silence was going to be taken as The Hard Way, but there was nothing they could say that would be able to convince him otherwise. It would take a lot. Something that might be able to shock Forge into listening. Something that might make him look the other way. After a moment Forge shrugged and a smirk that made them sick to their stomach came upon his face

“Suit yourself” He walked away, his heavy steps echoing through their prison

There was no telling when he’d come back, so the need to find a way out skyrocketed. They had already looked over the cell, there was no way out, not unless they could suddenly phase through walls. That is, until Max got a brilliantly stupid idea.

“Hey Steel, that blue stuff-”

<TURBO Energy> Steel interjected

“Yea yea whatever, that blue stuff, you think it could somehow break the force field?” Max whispered

Steel thought about it for a moment, they hadn’t thought to actually try that, and given Max’s energy output even with the ultralink constantly burning off excess in various ways it should be more than enough to cause it to open for at a few seconds at least.

<If it does, chances are we won’t have long to get out, and it’ll likely trip an alarm.>

“Well I’m ready if you are.” He paused “You think we could fly out of here?”

<We definitely could> Steel affirmed

They only had a few seconds, but that’s all they needed. Just as wings were fabricated Max reached out for the barrier, with a loud and sharp crackling that sent shockwaves throughout his being. It was down one moment, and they were out another. It sprang back to life once they were out. They both knew that it couldn’t be this easy, but they were out of their cell. Step one accomplished.

To say that their take off was effortless would be a bit of a stretch. They did it yes, they were able to achieve flight, however Max didn’t fly the last time. He was more of a passenger. They had to work in tandem to do it, meaning that Max had to, learn on the fly. Neither of them knew which way to go, with each turn Steel was creating a map in case they went in circles but there was no way to tell if they were going deeper and deeper into the base or not. The only thing they could do was keep going until they either found a way out or they were captured, again. Soldiers barely had time to react before they blew past them, but would quickly start firing off shots trying to take them down. They weren’t going nearly as fast as they could be, with the tight corridors and the sharp turns there was no real way to gain any speed. They counteracted this by never stopping. Sure it _might_ be more effective to simply fight your way through but who knew how many of them there were? It would simply be wasted energy on top of the fact that they were outnumbered.

Ducking down another path the duo found an open door, it was extremely large compared to other ones they passed and it held the best opportunity for hiding, at least long enough to switch modes. With how many are out for their blood, speed wasn’t going to cut it, not while they had no idea where they were going. They needed to take it slow, they need to see and not be seen. They took shelter under a desk. The wings disintegrated into nothing, all replaced with the image of nothing.

Knowing that no one can see them, the two allowed themselves to stop. The race from their cell to here brought a wave of exhaustion that neither were prepared for, Steel was more emotionally tired, Max however needed to catch his breath. He’d never been like this before, he never had this much _energy_ before. Even at his most scared, he never felt every single muscle in his body coiled so tightly that he was ready to pounce. His heart beat like a drum and his hands were shaking. It was too much all at once. He desperately needed the world to catch up with him.

Footsteps came thundering into the room, reflexively Max pulled his legs up under him praying that whoever walked in here didn’t hear the noise. They could hear the sound of someone shuffling around, hurriedly shoving things about and mumbling things they couldn’t hear in a somewhat aggravated tone. Max poked his head out, it was the man from before. It was Martinez.

<Max don’t> Steel said as Max was currently standing up from under the desk <Don’t he’s just going to have us put back in there Max don’t!>

“Why are you after us.” Max’s voice shook, he could barely get the words out

The man froze, slowly he looked around and saw nothing, he started to reach for his waist

“ _Why are you after us_ ” Max repeated urgently

“Who are you?” Martinez said grasping a pistol and aiming it towards the source of the sound

Seeing no other option, Steel dropped the active camo. Recognition flashed through his face as Martinez saw who they were.

“You’re the ultralink we captured today,” he said unsure “why are you referring to yourself like you’re more than one person?”

“Because, I am?” Max said confused “We aren’t the same person.”

“I think our friend here wants to know if I’ve completely overtaken you” Steel said evenly

“Oh,” Max stood up straight  “no, no he hasn’t, I’m still me.”

“That’s, really easy for someone to say”

Neither Max nor Steel had a response for this, it was true, Steel could make Max say anything he wanted to. He could do anything he wanted to. This guy didn’t know that he wouldn’t, how was he to know?

“Ok” he said breaking the silence “Just tell me this. How did you break out, why did you break out, and where were you going when you escaped.”

“What do we get out of it if we answer?” Steel asked pointedly

“Me not shooting you for one.” He responded

<Do you want me to handle this?> Steel asked

<Yes, please> Max’s voice over the link barely a whisper

“That’s fair, but the answers to all of that are really really simple.”

“I’m all ears” Martinez shifts his weight, it looks like his arm is getting tired

“We broke out by shorting out the force field, it seemed to fix itself after we did so. Truth be told, we broke out because we were afraid of what you were going to do to us, specifically what you were going to do to him. Finally-”

“Wait, him who?” He interrupted, bringing the gun down “We didn’t capture anyone else.”

“Me.” Max said quietly.

Moments passed between them as they stood in silence. Civilizations rose and fell between each heartbeat. Realization came upon his face, they are what they say they are. A willing, conscious, host and an ultralink.

“You need to suppress your energy signature.” He said sharply “It’s how we’ve been tracking you.”

A sharp pain came through Max as Steel did as he was told, hopefully this was actually going to work and throw them off the scent.

“You need to follow me, be quiet and don’t say anything, once we get to the hangar I’m going to go a different direction. Meet me at these coordinates, wait as long as it takes.”

Steel had it memorized before Martinez had even finished his instruction

“Not that I’m complaining but, what caused the sudden change in heart?” Steel asked

“I can’t explain here, just meet me there and I’ll fill you in on everything I know.”

Max was about to say something but was quickly hushed by the lanky man. He turned to leave and the duo followed.

Following him was possibly the hardest thing to do. It’s not like he didn’t stand out, out of every single person they saw rushing about he was the only one with an undercut, a ripped up lab coat, and a skateboard. Max had to jog to keep up with him, had it not been for the amount of people he’d have to run. They managed to not expose themselves thankfully, they’d bumped into people but somehow managed to get away before anyone put two and two together. He lead them to the hangar. The hangar, that meant escape, that meant freedom. He stopped, glanced over his shoulder, and pointed up.

The message was clear to them, they weren’t to follow him anymore. The path is clear.

Max broke into a run and within moments he felt the exhilarating rush as they slid into Flight Mode and took to the skies. They flew straight up, they could see the sky through a haze of brown, bracing for impact they went on full steam ahead. Nothing happened. Nothing changed. They were still flying and nothing was broken. Steel immediately set a course for the coordinates Martinez gave them. They couldn’t allow them to have the chance to follow, with Max’s help Steel gathered up every spare ounce of TURBO energy he could sending it directly to each of the thrusters. Max knew what breaking the sound barrier _looked_ like, but what it _felt_ like was a whole other monster. The world fell away into a blur as Max struggled to keep track of where they were going. Steel noticed, and made slight course corrections any time they drifted too far.

This was a teaching moment, there wasn’t going to be many of those. Steel mostly kept to the backseat, handing the more technical details of things. Things that Max likely wouldn’t be able to do on his own even with time. Max was actually doing all the flying, and he was doing fairly well. Steel kept track of everything, his vitals were showing the same elevation the first time they flew but it felt, different. He could feel the smile creeping onto Max’s face as they got further and further away. He wasn’t as tense as before, as guarded, while captured Steel was practically cut off from Max but now he was able to know him better. He was feeling safer, and joy filled his heart. If Steel could smile he would, he knew that they weren’t safe yet but there’s no sign of N-Tek following them so there was no harm in just relaxing was there? Max let himself fall into the rhythm, finding the easiest ways to fly, slicing through the air like a hot knife to butter. Steel loosened his grip on course correction, they’ll get there one way or another, it won’t hurt anything if Max gets a little flight practice in. Maybe next time he’ll be able to fly without the training wheels.   

They didn’t know what to expect when they arrived at the coordinates Martinez gave them. Another base, some kind of storehouse, his actual place of residence. What they found instead was none of these things, it was actually nothing. They hovered in the air for moment, metaphorically looking at the patch of land and to each other as if to say “are you fucking kidding me?”. Having no real better options they landed. For a while they sat there in silence, it was a lot to take in and this was the first quiet moment that either have had all day. Max opted to lay down on the ground, it offered no real comfort but it did feel better than sitting down. He brought his arm over his eyes to block out the streaks of sunlight coming down onto him.

“Hey Steel?” He asked tiredly

“Yes Maxwell?” Steel looked up from his busy task of doing nothing

“What time is it?”

“It’s almost twelve pm, 11:55 am to be specific” Steel responded

“That can’t be right, we’d have to have been gone for hours. Not barely half an hour.” Max said confused

Steel was silent for a moment, looking at his personal timeline of events, and looked back to Max

“It’s been a day since we’ve first linked up, so we have been gone for a while.”

“If,” Max started sitting up “if we’ve been gone for a day. Uncle Forge was the one who captured us...” His heart started racing “and I never came home last night...” His chest tightened, Steel could hardly breathe. “I can’t go home. I can’t go home. She knows. She knows and she’ll bring Uncle Forge right to us. Or worse...”

His hands shook, everything was happening so much, he couldn’t breathe why can’t he breathe. It was too much too soon too fast. Everything hurt and nothing stopped. Steel tried to reach out to him, tried to help stop the pain. Nothing was getting through, he couldn’t let him just sit there and suffer through it till it was done. He didn’t know what to do. He looked at his host struggling to breathe and felt every gasp. He linked back up with him, taking his place, trying to share the burden until it passed.

* * *

They realized that Martinez had arrived when someone had gently nudged Max’s body with their foot. He cracked open his eyes to see a somewhat confused man standing over them with a motorcycle helmet on his hip. Max sat up and looked at him expectantly, he figured that he had something to say and he wasn’t about to interrupt him. The man instead squatted down to eye level, placing his helmet on the ground. They didn’t realize that it’d been so long, it was already sunset.

“Are you okay?” There was concern in his voice, real concern “I brought, uh, medical supplies. I didn’t know if you were hurt during capture.”

Max looked at his hands, examining them, and patting himself down.

“No, I don’t think so?” He said looking back at him “Steel, do you know if there’s, anything wrong?”

“You’re slightly dehydrated and you need some food but that’s the only pressing issue right now.” Steel said unlinking and hovering next to Max

“Pressing issue?” Martinez asked “Is there anything else wrong?”

Steel was quiet for a moment, looking away from Max’s gaze

“There’s the issue of his generation of TURBO Energy but I have that under control. Whatever your people used to capture us didn’t seem to do any damage but I’ve been monitoring him just in case something develops.”

“So, physically I’m mostly okay?” Max asked

“As okay as can be expected honestly.” Steel responded “You would have been a lot worse off had Martinez not led us out.”

“Wait how did you know my name?” He asked taken aback

“We hear Uncle For- The Commander say it before.” Max said, quickly correcting himself

“I had my suspicions about who you were.” Martinez started “What the commander doesn’t know is that, I went digging through some of the more classified stuff. Things that only six people in the _whole organization_ have access to, and two have been dead for years.” He paused for a moment, and took a breathe “There’s a file on you and...” he trailed off, there was something wrong. His eyes got glassy and he swallowed hard “Where were you planning on going after this.”

Max and Steel looked at each other, they had no plan, they had nothing. Max couldn’t go home and Steel had no home to begin with. Neither knew of anywhere safe. Where could they even go? They both were quiet for a long time.

“If you can do something with the whole, ultralink space suit thing, you can stay with me.” He said.

“What?” They said simultaneously

“I can’t let you be out here on your own. You’re just a kid, you’re not that much younger than me, you can’t do this by yourself. Even if you have Steel that’s not going to help. Steel be honest, what do you actually know about our world.”

Steel quickly called up his memories. An easy task, everything he’s ever known will be right there for later examination. He looked as far back as he could wanting to prove that he _could_ in fact be of help. It stopped at the time of reactivation the previous day, that seemed wrong, he knew he’d experienced this world more than that. He tried to back beyond yesterday, again and again and again. He found nothing, worse than nothing he found _corrupted files_. There was something there but, he couldn’t use it, couldn’t access it. He ran a systems diagnostic, there’s always a reason for this.

“... apparently nothing.” He said finally “There’s damage to my memory core, I can’t remember anything past yesterday when I reactivated.” He looked back at Martinez “But I do know that I am able to make Max appear as any civilian.”

“Why not just take off the suit?” Max asked

“That would be unwise.”

“Why?”

“Because, without me to regulate your TURBO Energy output you’ll go critical.”

“...What happens when I go critical?”

“It would easily take out the entire downtown sector of Copper Canyon.” Steel said flatly “If not more.”

“Okay then, the suit stays on.” Martinez said shocked “We should probably head out then, whenever you two get ready.”

Max gave Steel a thumbs up, so he linked up back with him. A surge of energy flowed through them both as Steel took it and used it to construct the image of civilian wear. He wasn’t sure what kind of clothes to put on Max, so he just put on the same ones that he saw him wearing when they first met. He hoped they weren’t bad, but he could always change it later. It wasn’t him that was going to have to deal with the clothes. When they were finished, Max checked himself out the best he could. Jeans, blue hoodie, grey shirts, sneakers. Exactly what he was wearing yesterday.

“Oh, since you’ll be staying with me for, I assume a while, call me Berto. Everyone does.”

He walked back over to his bike, Max didn’t recognize the make or model. It was just a white and green... thing. He watched Berto as he got on, swinging his leg over and keeping his feet flat on the ground. He copied his motions, sitting the same way that Berto was waiting for futher instruction.

“Ah, I forgot, uh Steel? Are you able to make a functional helmet for Max? It’s not safe to ride without it and he’s a minor so I’d 100% get stopped.”

“Not without deactivating the hard light holograms.” Steel said

“What does me being a minor have to do with anything?” Max asked confused

“Helmet laws, if you’re over eighteen you don’t have to wear one. But your file said that you’re sixteen, so you have to wear one but I don’t.” Berto said taking his helmet off “Here, wear mine. We’ll get you one later.”

“But don’t you need it?” Max said taking it “Steel could probably do something if I needed one.”

“Yea but I also don’t need a ticket. And that’s something that’d show up on Commander Ferris’ radar and he’d figure it out quick.” Max put on his helmet “Alright now some ground rules while you’re on my bike. Do not, _ever_ put your feet on the ground unless you’re dismounting. You keep them on the passenger pedals at all times. Another thing, don’t wrap your arms around my chest. Rest them on your lap next to my hips, if you get nervous _then_ you can grab on but just try to relax. When I lean one way, lean with me. Did you get all that.”

“Uh, yes?” Max said

“Alright, then this should be alright.” He said starting the bike

Steel however, missed every last word of the exchange. He was pulling overtime trying to get rid of excess energy. He realized too late that the way Max is might short out technology, and this looked like a new model. There was a lot of surplus, he kept himself topped out at 100% energy, he began figuratively bailing the energy to try to make it to where it would be a safe level to interact. He couldn’t just throw it out into the world, at that point he might as well stop suppressing the energy signature. Instead he upped the energy requirement of Max’s clothes. The blue became bluer, the pockets were real, he tried everything. It wasn’t stable but it only had to work once. They were moving with minimal issue, he couldn’t tell how long it was going to take them but it working. If he could just keep this up until they got to Berto’s home then it was going to be _fine._

Max was enjoying the ride. He’d never ridden a motorcycle before. While there wasn’t much to see, the sunset made for an amazing treat of color across the world. Just as Berto told him he kept his hands beside his hips, relaxed, and he moved with him. The helmet fit weirdly and he wasn’t sure he had it on right, but at least no one would think it weird that he’s not wearing one. The ride was wonderful, the feelings that came over him were objectively the best he’s had in the past 24-hours, nothing but pure joy as they blazed down the highway. For the first time in years, he felt like he was around someone he could trust.

Berto turned off down a road and a little ways down Max saw a mid-sized house. It had a privacy fence all around it except for the front yard. They pulled in and Berto flipped the kickstand down.  

“Alright, we’re home!” He said dismounting.

Max followed suit, taking off the helmet once off the bike. The second that he was off the bike Steel stopped everything he was doing, wore out from desperately trying to keep Berto’s bike in working order. He slipped into idle mode to recharge his mental batteries.

“Berto?” He asked

“Yes Max?” he turned back to him

“You said back at that base that you’d tell us everything you knew at that spot, but you hardly told us anything.”

Berto looked at him for a moment, he sighed and ran his fingers through his hair

“I thought that you’d be ready to hear it then, but when I got there, I don’t know what was up with you but it clearly wasn’t the time. What I think you need is a day or so to process what you’ve already got going on.”

“So, what does that mean?” Max asked

“That I’ll tell you the day after tomorrow, after you and Steel have had some time to be, you know, people. Not scared reactive animals.”

That made sense to him. A lot happened in a very short amount of time.

“Besides, when was the last time you ate? He asked

“Uh, yesterday morning before school.”

“You need some food, come on, I got a state-of-the-art kitchen and I know how to make some Good Shit.”

Max followed him inside, and the inside was more amazing than the outside. Every inch of space was used in a perfect manner. Everything had it’s place and nothing was wasted. While it was very messy, papers and other personal items strewn about, everything was it’s own brand of organized chaos. It was also all dedicated to the comfort of whoever was staying here. Fluffy couches and chairs, large pillows for laying on the floor, there was even a section of a room Max could see from the entryway that was just a hole for pillows.

“Oh, before I get started on food.” Berto said “I should show you where yours and Steel’s room will be. Unless you two want separate rooms?”

“Uh, I’m ok with sharing. Steel? What about you?” There was silence, Max jumped when the AC kicked on, but no other noise came through. “Steel? Everything okay?” He gave his chest a light tap, he couldn’t feel it but he was sure that Steel did.

“Mmph, what?” Steel said tiredly

“Berto wants to know if we want to share a room or sleep in separate ones. I’m ok with sharing if you are.”

“We might as well,” he said settling back into idle

“I guess we’re sharing then.” Max said with a shrug

Berto returned the gesture and walked towards the staircase. Max followed him, marveling at everything on the walls. Berto didn’t have much pictures, so instead he had murals painted on the walls that were bare. Everything from graffiti style to sci fi scenes or something straight out of fantasy. He stopped at the first door on the left.

“This’ll be your bedroom, as long as you’ll have it.” Berto said opening the door “I’ve not been using it lately but everything should be good. There’s a bathroom connected to this room to, if you like you can jump in the shower or take a bath while I’m cooking.”

“Maybe I should wait until Steel’s more, awake.” Max said scanning the room “But this looks amazing.”

They went back downstairs into the kitchen. Max quickly saw that Berto was not joking about state of the art. His kitchen was indistinguishable from a top of the line restaurant's kitchen, except that it was smaller. One could _easily_ film an episode of Chopped or Cutthroat Kitchen in here if there was only two people in the competition. Berto started pulling out cookware and Max immediately wanted to help. He hated feeling like a burden. Berto was already risking a lot by having him here, by helping them. His eyes stung as tears welled up, he wiped them away with the sleeve of his hoodie. He had to find some way to help, to repay this huge debt that he owes Berto.

“Is there anyway I can help?” Max asked

“Oh I got this, but if you like you can help me chop some veggies.” He said pouring some kind of oil into a pan

“So what are we having tonight?” Max asked

“Stir fry.” Berto said “It’s great fun to make”

Max’d never made stir fry before, he’d had it so he knows what it tastes like, but making something is always different. He followed every instruction that he was given, careful with the knives just as he was told. His knife cuts were uneven and messy, he looked back at Berto’s cuts. All even and neat. The right size and angle of cuts for meal they were making. Berto assured him that it was just because that he’s not had practice like he has.

Once Berto told him that he was done, Max took the dishes that they weren’t going to need again and gave them a wash. He scrubbed them good just like his mother showed him before. His mother. Thinking about her he dropped the cutting board and the scrub brush. His breath caught in his throat as a strangled sob escaped. It was just too much, too soon. She’ll be home, she’ll be worried, she’ll be looking for him, she’ll be there.

He couldn’t go home. He couldn’t go home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The helmet thing is actually real. It depends on your state however. Some say that you have to wear them at all times, like your seatbelt in a normal vehicle. Others (like Arkansas) they're optional if you're 18+ but mandatory if you're under 18. But if you ride wear them anyway, you're much less likely to die if you wear it. 
> 
> If you're wondering why Berto isn't speaking spanish in this it's for a very good reason: I don't speak spanish. Since I'm not fluent or even conversational in Spanish I have no business throwing random spanish words about in his dialogue. It's not reflective of how he'd speak at all, nor would it be accurate to how actual spanish speakers speak or how actual bilingual spanish speakers speak. So to avoid all that bad, I'm just not using spanish at all.


	5. Dreams In The Static

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for a breather, to understand what has happened and think about what's going to happen now that is has.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The factory sucks and Destiny 2 came out

Max slowly came back into the waking world. He blinked a few times clearing the sleep from his eyes. The unfamiliar room around him causing to freeze in panic and his breath to catch in his chest. As his eyes traveled down onto the bed he saw the small robot that had been with him throughout the chaos, he was sleeping beside the bed on the nightstand, laying on a pillow taken from one of the chairs. Seeing him brought some sense of comfort to him. One constant over the mess that was the last two days. He laid back down staring at the ceiling, he knew that Berto wanted them to have the day to be able to actually be people, but having to spend another day knowing that there was something going on with his mom and uncle was only giving him more anxiety. 

He laid there for a few minutes more, staring blankly at the ceiling, before he dug around his pockets for his phone. His hand slipped over the place where his pocket would have been before he realized that this wasn’t a real pocket. That couldn’t be right, he put on real pants when he left. These ones had pockets. He felt for his wallet in his back pocket and searched for his keys. Nothing. He jumped upright resting on his knees patting himself down rapidly looking for his possessions, as he did so Steel tapped him on the shoulder. When Max turned to look at him he saw the expressionless face staring him down. 

“Is everything alright? Your heart rate suddenly jumped and I was concerned.” he said tilting his body as if to mimic an expression of confusion

“I’m just,” Max said throwing the blanket off the bed “I’m looking for my phone, my wallet and keys are gone too.” 

“Oh, are these it?” Steel projected an image of an inventory, in it showed a phone, wallet, and a keyring. “They were on your person when we linked up, I stored them in case they were important.” 

To say that relief washed over Max would be an understatement. It would be next to impossible for him to replace any of these items. He flopped back down on the face down. 

“What do you mean by stored them?” He asked turning to face Steel “You don’t exactly have pockets.” 

“I do in a quantum space sort of way.” Steel said resting on a pillow next to Max

“What does that mean.” Max said “Do you keep them in a pocket dimension? Do you literally have a dimension as your pockets?”

“No, but that sounds like it could possibly be very useful.” Steel said “But I basically turned it into a digital construct. As of right now it’s just data, but it’s safe.” 

“So you can just, make something fake to put it away?” he asked feeling the pillow

“That is one way of putting it” Steel said shrugging 

“Can you digitize this pillow?” He asked 

They spent the next few minutes compiling and digi-structing various items in the room. The pillows, the blankets, anything that they could get their hands on. It didn’t seem like it was very hard, Steel made it look effortless, at the same time he made everything look effortless. Maybe that’s just how he rolled. 

“Can I ask you something?” He said suddenly 

“Uh, sure.” Max said confused 

“Is there any particular reason why you’re blocking me out?” 

“What? I’m not blocking you out, I’m talking to you and stuff.” 

“I am only able to read your vitals via our link, I am unable to communicate over it or read your emotional state like I was yesterday. Is there any particular reason why?” 

His formality made Max feel weird. He wasn’t sure how to respond, he didn’t even know he was doing it until this very moment. 

“I, don’t know.” He shifted awkwardly “I didn’t know that was happening.” 

Steel stared him down some more, completely unreadable, Max realized that it wasn’t just Steel who wasn’t able to use the link. He only knew what Steel was feeling because they were connected. Right now they’re not. 

“Perhaps it is just stress.” Steel said shrugging “So what would you like to do today?” 

“What if we just, watched something.” Max said 

Max pulled out the remote from the nightstand, Steel watched him intently as he fiddled with it. When he found the right channel for the satellite it showed the last channel that had been on for whoever used this room last. The local news. 

“-police ask that if you have any information regarding the location of Maxwell Mcgrath please, call them at-” 

Max turned the TV back off, a uncomfortable feeling sinking deep into the pit of his stomach. He didn’t want to think about this, he didn’t want to think about Mom, he didn’t want to think about what would happen if, when, she finds him. He slid back down deeper into the bed, finding comfort in the soft valleys of the quilt. 

“Maxwell?” Steel’s concern woven into formality, his frame mimicking posture that would suggest the same “Is there someway I can help?” 

Max didn’t answer, what is there to do? It’s not like he can do anything to make it seem like he isn’t actually a part of some space robot. He knows all too well that Mother’s notice everything, there is no lie that can’t be seen through. All secrets are found out eventually. There was no hiding. 

“What is this?” Steel asked

“What is what” Max asked following Steel’s gaze

Steel had put on a movie, Max hadn’t noticed that he’d even turned the tv back on, staring back at the screen he tried to get his eyes to focus. The logos went by and the screen faded to black. Music started up, steadily but urgently, the words “Kaiju” and “Jaeger” appeared on the screen in green text. 

“Oh that’s uh, that’s Pacific Rim.” Max said scooting to face the tv “It’s a amazing movie.”

“What is it about?” Steel asked dropping down onto the bed and propping himself up with his arms, apparently trying to copy Max’s position. 

“Basically alien monsters that are just,  _ so unbelievably enormous _ start appearing from the ocean. So humanity responded to the threat by building huge mechs to beat the crap out of them.” 

Raleigh began talking, explaining the plot that had happened before the movie took place. It showed the devastation that took place in San Francisco, and Raleigh explained how many people died, how hard it was to take it down in the first place. And the line, “to fight monsters, we made monsters of our own.” it made Max smile, the whole movie was a testament to human survivability and stubbornness in the face of death. Steel watched intently as exposition played on, the Jaeger program caught his attention. 

“We were never star athletes. Never at the head of the class. But we could hold our own in a fight. And it turned out that we had a unique skill, we were Drift Compatible.” 

The boys watched in awe at the set up the two pilots had. Steel had possibly never even seen a movie before, if anything had to be his first, this was an amazing entry into the world of film. Max remembered every single line of dialogue, he’d seen this movie so many times. He had to buy it as a digital copy after he ruined the disk. On screen they initiated the neural handshake and suddenly, the scene was different. Before Max watched it with excitement, thinking “what would that be like?”, “that’s so cool!”, “I bet it would be awesome to fight like that.” 

Now he looked at the scene the same way a soldier looks at military comedies. “Yep, that’s exactly what it’s like.” 

Despite being fundamentally different things, two humans in a giant mech suit and a boy and his robot, Max couldn’t help but think that, they were the same thing. Watching the fight between Danger and Knifehead, he remembered how they flew away. How they ran, how they moved. Everything happened in tandem. He couldn’t say that it was similar, it was so close to them that it was nearly the same. 

It totally changed the experience for him. Before he thought the idea of the drift was interesting, now? Now it’s his  _ life _ . He payed close attention to each battle, how they moved, how each pilot worked together. He focused on Mako and Raleigh, the novice and veteran pilots, it wasn’t hard to tell who Max related to in this situation. He looked down at his hands, they looked like his hands, but he knew better. The armor that Steel had put on him still covered him, diligently keeping him alive. Yesterday he thought that Steel had asked him to let him make the choices because he didn’t want him to be scared, that if he didn’t care about that, Steel could have just done everything that he’d done. But then again, it was like The Drift, he wasn’t sure if Steel  _ could _ have. Max leaned heavily on his right arm, putting all his weight on it, despite everything he was starting to feel just ok.

The Hail Mary went through, with pyrrhic victory that left earth’s defences with no more Jaegers but destroyed the path to them. They won, but with all but two of the last pilots dead. They found each other again, a bond they thought was lost to the breach. A rush of emotions flooded him, excitement and awe being the most prominent, Steel jumped up and hovered in front of him. A look of pure happiness plastered on his face. 

“That was amazing!” Steel exclaimed 

“One hell of a first movie right?” Max said smiling

“I never realized that humans would know how a ultralink connection would work! It had it’s inaccuracies of course but it also knows when to sacrifice accuracy for sake of an incredible experience.” 

“Steel, humans didn’t even know about aliens when this movie came out.” Max said awkwardly. 

“What do you mean? There is a level detail here that one can’t do without having based it off of some real events.” Steel asked

“I mean, Pacific Rim is based in like, two different genres, neither of which really came about with stuff like what they showed.” Max explained 

“What caused them to be created then?”

“I don’t know about the giant robot one, but I do know the giant monster one came about because of Godzilla. Which was made due to the effect that a country like that getting nuked twice during one war. Radiation made a monster that destroys cities.”

Steel hovered in place, thinking, working over what Max had just told him, it made sense. There was very concrete inspiration, real events happened that lead to the creation of a movie that launched a whole genre. 

“You said that humanity wasn’t aware of alien life when this came out.” Steel said after a moment

“Yea, it came out in 2013.” Max affirmed 

“Does, humanity know about alien life?” 

“Well,” Max said awkwardly “We do know about at least one.” 

Steel waited with baited breath as to who the people of Earth know about, Max however felt that it was a little difficult to explain. He opened the search and typed in the title to a documentary that he remembered watching in school. The DVR loaded the movie and he took one more look at Steel. A lump formed in his throat like his heart was trying to crawl through it, he looked away, he couldn’t watch this again. 

Steel turned to look at the program, Max stood up off the bed and made for the door. As he walked out of the room he could hear the narrator’s voice, giving background as to what they were going to be talking about in the next two hours. Closing the door his eyes wandered back to his hands. He moved his fingers just a little, satisfied he made his way down the stairs. As the living room - or what he assumes to be the living room - came into view he saw Berto’s lab coat draped over the couch. He carefully stepped into the room quiet as a mouse looking around, other than his lab coat there appeared to be no evidence that he was in here recently. 

The narrator’s voice calmly explaining how so many were taken in the first battles. He stepped hard walked to the back porch his heart racing and his hands beginning to shake. His body moved out of sync with itself, the world slowly rose up to meet him - or did he lower himself down to meet it? 

<Max, what’s wrong?> Steel’s voice loud and clear, as if he were hovering right next to him

“Nothing.” Max said “I’m fine.” 

The sounds stopped. Silence filling the space that previously had been occupied by everything else. 

“Max?” Steel’s voice was much more distant this time, not a direct line to him. Max turned around to see Steel, his ever expressionless face staring at him. “Should, we do something else?” 

Max opened his mouth to speak but no words came, he stared at Steel unsure of what to do. He felt his heart climbing it’s way into his throat and looked away. 

“What if we just took a short flight?” Steel said closing the gap between them “You seemed to enjoy flying yesterday.” 

He nodded, flying does sound nice. He walked to the glass door that appeared to lead to a deck outside. Steel appeared in his peripherals, the suddenness of his presence making Max jump. Opening the door and stepping outside the heat assaulted Max but despite appearing to still be wearing his hoodie he didn’t feel all that hot, in fact it was really only his face that felt it. Rather the rest of his body felt very cool comparatively. He closed the door behind him and looked to Steel, hoping that he would have the next step already planned out. 

Steel flew before him and Max stood in the same way he did before, sliding his foot back just a bit to give him a little more balance and root him to the ground - ironically enough - so that he doesn’t fall over when Steel links up. If one was an outside observer, it would look like the force of Steel slamming into Max’s chest  _ should _ knock the wind out of him, however hard it looks like Steel is hitting him it only feels to Max as a painless thump against his chest. 

Quickly the change happens, his proportions changing yet again to match what is best for flight. He wasn’t quite sure how being slightly more top heavy would help but whatever worked works he guessed. He felt the weight of his four wings before he felt sensation in them, the slight breeze that flowed over them, involuntarily they twitched. His helmet already giving him more information than he knew what to do with. 

“So far, it’s been mostly me doing the flying” Steel stated unlinking “but, I thought it would be nice for you to know how to fly on your own.”

“Where do we start?” Max said, finding some words in the back of a closet somewhere.

Steel looked like he was going to say something but then stopped, he opened the same holographic thing that he used to show Max where his belongings where and began to search something. He stared hard at what looked like YouTube and birds, after a moment he closes all of it and brings his attention back to Max. 

“I have no idea.” Steel admitted “Maybe take off? That seems like a logical place to start.”

Max took this opportunity to stretch. Placing his arm over his chest and the other over his elbow and pulling it towards him a few times and then repeating the action backwards. Steel watched him slightly confused as Max reached down to touch his toes, then sat down spread his legs so that they looked like a V. He was really sure what to ask, watching Max yet again reach for his toes and then reaching for the space between his feet. He stood back up and with on hand on his hip and the other held above his head he leaned one way, then reversing his position and doing it again. 

“What are you doing?” Steel asked perplexed

“Stretching” Max said squatting down putting all his weight on one leg and sticking the other out

“Why”

He simply shrugged and kept doing it. Once satisfied he stood upright and looked up to the skies. Max knew he wasn’t ready, but there was only one way to get off the ground. He jumped, he jumped as high as he could, he spread his wings at the apex reaching for the sky. However Newton had his rifle ready, and he came crashing back down to the uncaring earth. That was, less than graceful. He stood back up and looked at Steel sheepishly. 

“Would you like to know where you went wrong?” Steel asked 

Max nodded 

“You were correct in your form,” Steel said waving his arms “however you didn’t allocate any energy for them. All you did was set them in the correct position for take off, but they had no power so you fell.” 

Ah, that would make sense. Max was vaguely aware of how to do that, but not really sure if he could do it consciously like this. He tried again, thinking about sending energy to his wings. At the apex of his jump he spread his wings again and managed to hang there for a little while longer before it gave out and crashing back down to earth yet again. 

“Would you like to know where you went wrong?” Steel asked again

Max nodded again

“You were sending the energy to the wrong place. You have a, engine of sorts. Trying to bypass it will only result in falling, however you might be able to use it for gliding. You did hover in the air for a few seconds.” Steel said “I did not think about using it that way.” 

He wasn’t quite sure how that made sense but, if that’s how it had to work that’s what he had to try to do. Now Max knew how to drive, that much he could do. It couldn’t be that different, starting a car and starting this... “engine” should be similar enough. Just like turning a key. He jumped again and this time when he reached for the stars and spread his wings. He actually soared. 

He took to the sky arms outstretched laughing, freedom actually within his grasp. He raced to the stars, where the blue faded away into the cold black, until it stopped and the earth raced to meet him. Suddenly they started back up, he righted himself, and was hovering in place perfectly. 

<I’m sorry,> Steel started <but it did not appear that you were going to right yourself in time.>

Max breathing heavily didn’t respond at first, he stared back at the ground with a sudden longing to be there. 

<Maybe now would be a good time to practice landings, would you like to do that now or are you done for today?>

“I would like to come down please” Max said, his face burning just a little from what just transpired 

Slowly he floated down, the ground becoming just a little less terrifying with each moment. Once his feet touched down everything reverted back to normal, once again in his hoodie and jeans appearing as a normal dude. 

“I think,” Max started “I think i’m going to take a nap.” 

Steel gave him an approximation of a smile, a little smiley face on his screen replacing where his eye usually is. Somehow it makes more sense with a :) than an actual face. The boys go back inside, blessed by the cool air upon opening the door. Making their way back upstairs they found the house to be, unsettlingly silent. A feeling began to creep up his back and his breath was reduced to nothing, instinctively Max moved to where the wall and the floor met. Trying to reduce the noise his footsteps made. With slow and deliberate motions he made it back into the bedroom with little issue. He flops onto the bed pulling the covers over him, falling into a deep sleep. 

* * *

Max’s heavy eyes flickered open. His body felt as if it had been coated in concrete, struggling to breathe as his chest falls lower and lower with each exhale, threatening to cave with each breath. He could hear the sound of heavy footfalls, someone angrily marching towards him.

“What do you  _ mean _ ‘I won’t do it’?” Static crackled through a man’s voice

Max turned to look at who was addressing him, a face he’d only seen in pictures his mother kept in an old beat up album. A gaunt face, edges that didn’t seem possible and curves in the wrong places. Piercing eyes that hurt just as any knife. 

“I mean I won’t do it” Max said, but not with his voice. It was bitter, angry, familiar... “You’re doing this for all the wrong reasons Ja’em, and I want no part of it.” 

“I want nothing but to protect this world, Axsteel.” He spat “You know he’s coming back, I know you know. We need someone here who can protect this world when I’m gone.”

“That doesn’t make this right, what makes me different from them if I were to do this? You’re a willing host, it’s different. This? This is just a dressed up version of what those...  _ creatures _ do.” Max, Steel, said evenly but with no less anger coloring his tone “I will not  _ become _ what we  _ fight _ Ja’em, I refuse.” 

His father stood up straight, eyes narrowing and his face twisting in disgust. “Then that,” he said “Is where we differ. I would do anything to protect this planet.”

“If protecting this planet entails doing the very thing we swore to protect people from” Steel’s voice had gone cold, hateful, venom sat at the edge of his vocalizer “Then we deserve to perish.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All go no stop is no fun and sometimes the readers need a break of the characters just kinda, chilling, but that doesn't mean that they're ok in the slightest. There was gonna be more but ending on the Dream was just honestly??? to good?? 
> 
> I reference Pacific Rim so often when I write these fics so I might as well make it canon that it exists in this world. Like there's nothing stopping me, it's not like I'm already breaking copyright law by having this fic EXIST. I refuse to call the name of the mech by it's full name, Danger's name is a racist slur and ESPECIALLY given that I am a white person who has no connection to the romani at all, it is not my slur to reclaim. I'm not sorry about this at all. There is no excuse in this day and age to use it. 
> 
> In The Wrath of Makino Steel makes the comment "Going to party like it's 2099!" giving us a full year to understand the other dates


	6. Blood on My Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hell hath no fury like a mother scorned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i really do want to work on my other wips but shit fuck dude all i can think of is this wip soooooooo you get more of this

It’s been three days. Three days since Max went missing. At first Molly wanted to think it was nothing big, but as the hours drew on on the first night she grew tense. By dawn she it was time to start the search, first through the official channels to throw attention off of her. At this point, there was no way this was a runaway situation. To her, it simply didn’t make sense. Max was always diligent about taking his medication, even in the times he forgot he still had it on him and had been simply distracted and lost track of time, and he’d taken the day’s injection before leaving for school. The proof of this was the empty needle in the sharps bin and their last... their previous conversation. On her desk she had every scrap of information that she’d managed to get both from the police and from her own sources, a manilla folder open containing an interview with the last two people known to be in contact with Max, Sydney Garder and Kirby Kowalski.

Something bothered her about the two student’s description of Max right before his disappearance. One had said that he didn’t appear to be all there, while the other said he looked scared. The former could be chalked up to Max being in an unfamiliar environment with a large amount of sensory input, him appearing to be “not all there” could easily just be him trying to cope with the situation. This hypothesis goes right out the window once you get to Ms Garder’s description of the situation.

> Detective Cooper: Can you elaborate on what you mean by “scared”?
> 
> Garder: He just, looked at me, and he just stared at me like he wanted to say something but didn’t. He was shaking so hard, I thought something was wrong and right as I was about to say something he ran away.
> 
> Detective Cooper: And this was when you told Mr Thornwood about what happened?
> 
> Garder: Yea, I didn’t know what else to do, he was already gone.

Terror, that’s what she was describing. Pure, unadulterated, terror. Something was happening and they didn’t pick up on it, they didn’t see it. The likely answer is that to them, there was nothing out of the ordinary about that afternoon. Which brought her to the next report on her desk. Manifests detailing attempted ultralink capture by THI, all but one thwarted by N-Tek. She knew that N-Tek had a base near by, and that they had been capturing a steady number of ultralinks over the years. Now she knew that somewhere along the way THI had gotten their hands on one. The same day that Max went missing. However before she could storm THI, there was one loose end, from Forge of all people.

After backing him into a corner he admitted that there was not just one but _two_ escapes. The same ultralink had been captured at some point, escaped three days ago, was recaptured after having already linked with a living host, and then escaped again and hasn’t been found since. For somewhere that is supposed to have ironclad security, not just the best that money can buy but the best that is designed and manufactured anywhere, it cannot seem to handle a single ultralink. She was almost willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when it came to the second escape, she remembers all too well what it was like trying to rescue living hosts. How hard it was, and how small the chance of survival was both in extracting the ultralink and afterwards.

Even knowing all this, she needed to know more before she could act. Whoever took Max knows what they’re doing. The traditional methods of tracing his location has failed, leaving them only cold trails and dead cameras. With a heavy sigh she knew she was going to have to make the trek to N-Tek. There was too much she didn’t know, and too much she did. Rather than drop in unannounced, Molly pulled out her phone. Encrypted to hell and back there wasn’t a single person who would be able to see her activities on it that wasn’t authorized before hand. She dialed her brother’s number, knowing damn well he was awake. He picked up on the first ring.

“Evening Molly,” Forge said “Did you learn anything new?”

“No, I was actually hoping you could help me fill in the blanks.” She said using a tone of voice honed over years of customer service and corporate positions “You see there’s a lot of information and having poured over it all for the last few hours, I might have missed something.”

The “something” here, was how Max’s disappearance fit into all of this. A boy goes missing, one ultralink is loose with a host and one is theoretically being held by THI with no further information of its status?

“Molly I’ve been looking at those same reports,” Forge said exasperated “On top of the ones I’m having to read for everything else going on.”

“Forge Ferris,” She said tersely “Where. Is. My. Son.”

“ _I don’t know Molly._ ” He said through gritted teeth “ _If I knew, then I would have told you._ ”

She paused for a moment. This much was true, if Forge knew where Max was -regardless of the state of being- he would have told her. He knows that it’s useless to hide things from her.

“Then can you answer one question for me.” She said

“What would that be?”

“Who is the host.” Silence. “Forge, who is the host.”

She could hear the white noise of the microphone, him moving things on his desk, the avoidance of the question by means of busying himself. An old tactic, but it didn’t work before and it wasn’t about to work now.

“Forge, answer me. I know you either know who it is or have an idea of who it is.”

Forge sighed, eons of silence filled the gap as he worked up the nerve to speak

“Molly,” he started, his tone heavy and voice soft “I think you know who it is.”

The line went dead. Molly held the phone with a trembling hand and something burning in her heart. Gritted teeth she stares at her phone. He was right. He was right and she didn’t want him to be. He was right and it meant that he was in more danger than she thought. All of the local N-Tek forces is focused on recapturing them, but the question was how long would it take for it to come out of hiding? How long before it thought the heat had died down?

How long was Forge going to wait before it stopped being a rescue?

Molly’s eyes returned to the report. Max knew something was wrong before he disappeared. She taught him well, he knew how to get away from people if need be. Even with his limited ability he knew how to spot and then lose a tail, with everything he learned from her. This was something that went beyond what he was expecting, a live fire test so to speak.

She always trained him on how to get away from agents, federal or otherwise, but she never trained him to get away from an ultralink. Max knew of course what one was, she remembered one of many papers he had to write in recent years for school on the invasion, what he didn’t know was how to deal with them. Even after all these years there was still nothing better for a civilian to do than to run and hope it finds something or someone else. The question is, how does someone lose an biomechanical alien that is tracking you?

The answer is you don’t, but you can still be found when it loses us. You can still be tracked, you can still be found through it’s higher ups. There was always someone who knows where you are through the location of the ultralink that has you.

And it was time to stop waiting for it to fall into her lap, it is time to find Max herself.   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have never seen a police report in real life so like, lets just pretend that there's totally transcripts of shit in there for sake of fic

**Author's Note:**

> i hate myself i was supposed to finish with friends like these and baptized in data before i did this but i just HAD TO DO IT NOW
> 
> This was going to be Come Together but that's not how it turned out, so that'll start next chapter. 
> 
> Feel free to leave comments of stuff that you thought they were gonna do but just went "nope!" and didn't do it.


End file.
